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.
Amyr Amiden (physical medium)
Brazilian medium known for the appearance near him of ‘apports’ (materialized objects), sometimes on request.
Apollonius of Tyana
Itinerant first-century preacher and healer reputed to have performed miracles and supernatural feats.
Arigo
Brazilian celebrated for making diagnoses, prescriptions, even surgery, while possessed by ‘spirit doctors’ in a trance state.
Charles Bailey
Charles Bailey (1870–1947) was an Australian medium known for an ability to produce ‘apports’ of great variety.
Bangs Sisters
Controversial nineteenth century American spirit mediums, against whom numerous detailed allegations of fraud were
Marthe Béraud (Eva C)
French materialization medium studied by European researchers in the early twentieth century,
Malcolm Bessent
English-born Malcolm Bessent (1944–1997) participated as a subject in successful dream precognition experiments carried out in the US.
Rosemary Brown
Twentieth-century British medium who specialized in musical compositions she claimed were dictated to her by deceased composers.
Nigel Buckmaster
The benefactor whose bequest financed the Psi Encyclopedia describes the mystical vision that prompted his interest in psi research.
Edgar Cayce
American psychic famous for trance readings in which he diagnosed the cause of medical symptoms and prescribed effective remedies.
Chico Xavier (medium)
Popular Brazilian medium (1910–2002) celebrated for his prolific output of poetry, fiction and Spiritist philosophy.
Angelique Cottin
French girl who in 1846, aged fourteen, was the centre of psychokinetic disturbances that made an international sensation.
Croiset Archive
Details of correspondence, reports, films and other materials relating to the Dutch psychic Gerard Croiset (1909–1980).
Gerard Croiset
Dutch psychic (1909–1980) known for demonstrations of precognitive clairvoyance (chair tests) and for finding missing persons.
Geraldine Cummins
Irish medium who published automatic scripts said to originate with the deceased FWH Myers and other discarnates.
Natasha Demkina
Russian woman who claims the ability to view inside human bodies and correctly diagnose diseases. Scientific tests have had mixed results.
Alexis Didier
French clairvoyant (1826–1886) whose extraordinarily accurate readings were made while he was in a hypnotic trance.
Helen Duncan
Controversial Scottish physical medium (1898–1956) sentenced to jail under England’s Witchcraft Act of 1735.
Eleonore Zugun (Talpa Poltergeist)
Adolescent Romanian girl (1913–1991), the centre of a well-documented 1920s poltergeist-type episode.
Oskar Estebany
Twentieth-century Hungarian-Canadian psychic healer whose abilities were demonstrated in successful laboratory experiments.
Ariel Farias
Argentinian factory worker and martial arts teacher who took part in recent successful recent psychokinesis experiments.
Felicia Parise
American woman who taught herself to move small objects by means of psychokinesis and was observed doing so in test conditions.
Fox Sisters
American women who in 1848 as children were at the centre of poltergeist-type disturbances and later became professional mediums.
Francis Bacon and the Occult
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) believed in the possibility of psi but opposed its investigation on theological grounds.
Luiz Antônio Gasparetto
Brazilian medium well-known for paintings made in trance at high speed and attributed to deceased artists.
Uri Geller
Israeli-born celebrity psychic world renowned for metal-bending and telepathic feats which, however, are not without controversy.
The Gold Leaf Lady
Investigative report of a Florida housewife who exhibits psychic effects, notably golden-like brass foil that appears on her skin and clothes.
Henry Gross
American game warden and dowser (1895–1979) who located water for landowners in his home state of Maine and in Bermuda.
Hafsteinn Björnsson (medium)
Icelandic trance medium (1914-1977) who produced 'drop-in' communications and xenoglossy.
Sean Harribance
Trinidadian psychic of Indian descent who participated in ESP and PK experiments with American researchers from the 1970s.
Daniel Dunglas Home
Well-known nineteenth century medium, some of whose phenomena were observed in controlled conditions.
Indridi Indridason (medium)
Icelandic trance medium (1883–1910) who produced physical phenomena comparable to DD Home.
Olga Kahl
Russian psychic known for her ability to cause words and images that she received telepathically to appear briefly as red marks on her skin.
Franek Kluski
Polish banker (1873–1943) with psychic abilities and for some years submitted to investigation as a materialization medium.
Gladys Osborne Leonard
British trance medium who collaborated with investigators of the Society for Psychical Research in the 1920s and 1930.
Matthew Manning
British man (b 1955), the focus of poltergeist activity in his teens, later known for his metal-bending, psychic activities, and healing.
Miguel Alberto Mantilla
Mexican boy (b 1904) with a remarkable ability to calculate calendar dates at high speed, rarely making mistakes.
Margery (Mina Stinson Crandon)
Controversial American physical medium who caused a split in the American Society for Psychical research in the 1930s.
Joe McMoneagle
Former US Army soldier who played a leading role as a remote viewer in the Star Gate psychic spying program run by American military.
Carlos Mirabelli
Brazilian medium (1889–1951) credited with phenomena of similar power and frequency to those associated with DD Home.
William Stainton Moses
Moses (1839–1892) was an Anglican priest and teacher who described experiences with mediumship in a private circle.
Sylvan Muldoon
American man (1903–1969) who wrote about his out-of-body experiences, which occurred throughout his life, and which he was able to control.
Ninel Kulagina
Russian woman (1926–1990) whose apparent ability to move objects by psychokinesis was investigated by parapsychologists.
Stefan Ossowiecki
Polish businessman (1877–1944) whose clairvoyant abilities were the subject of successful tests with European psychical researchers.
Ted Owens
American psychic (1920–1987) who won notoriety by claiming macro-psychokinetic (PK) powers, including an ability to control the weather.
Eusapia Palladino
Nineteenth century Italian trance medium (1854–1918) who produced psychokinetic phenomena of striking strength.
Patience Worth (analysis)
Should the writings of 'Patience Worth' (Pearl Curran) be considered as products of creative dissociation?
Patience Worth (Pearl Curran)
Author of critically-acclaimed novels, poems and other works that were said to be channeled from discarnate entities.
Padre Pio
Italian Roman Catholic friar and mystic (1879–1968) known for producing 'stigmata', bleeding sores recalling Christ's crucifixion.
Leonora Piper
American trance medium (1859–1950), the subject of extensive investigations by British and American psychical researchers.
Lotte Plaat
Dutch clairvoyant (1895–1979) able to discern facts about events associated with an object and its owner by holding it (psychometry).
Anna Prado
Brazilian spiritist medium (1883–1923) reputed to produce direct writing, levitations, apports and materialization phenomena.
Noreen Renier
American psychic detective who claims to have worked on more than 400 cases, mainly related to murder, rape and missing persons.
Sai Baba
Sathya Sai Baba was an Indian religious leader known worldwide for 'miracles' such as materializing sweets and ornaments.
Rudi Schneider Investigated by Eugene Osty
Tests of an Austrian physical medium with instruments suggested the presence of a psychokinetic force.
Ted Serios
Ted Serios (1918–2006) was an adept in the rare phenomenon of ‘thoughtography’ (an ability to 'think' images onto photographic film).
Jesse Shepard (Francis Grierson)
Outstanding musical performer (1848–1927) who attributed his gifts to discarnate entities through mediumship.
Henry Slade
Nineteenth century physical medium publicly accused of fraud who also produced striking phenomena in well-controlled conditions.
Hélène Smith
Swiss medium (1861–1929), the subject of a classic study by Théodore Flournoy showing psychological dimensions of mediumship.
Stella Cranshaw
London nurse (1900–1986) who produced abundant phenomena in investigative sittings organized in the 1920s by Harry Price.
Pavel Stepanek
Czech ESP subject who performed consistently well in experiments carried out in Prague and in the US during the 1960s.
Doris Stokes
Doris Stokes (1920–1987) was a controversial celebrity medium who was much in the public eye in Britain during the 1980s.
Ingo Swann
American artist (1933–2013) whose psychic ability led him to participate in successful ESP and PK experiments in the 1970s.
Emanuel Swedenborg
Swedish engineer, philosopher, seer and psychic (1688–1772), who wrote about his encounters with spirits.
Alex Tanous
Alex Tanous (1926–1990) was a noted New England psychic and parapsychologist, who contributed to out-of-body research.
Stanislawa Tomczyk
Polish woman whose ability to produce visible psychokinetic effects in controlled conditions is well documented.
Hester Travers Smith (Hester Dowden)
British automatist (1868–1949) who believed she was in contact with the deceased Oscar Wilde.
George Valiantine
American direct voice medium (1874–1947), noted for foreign languages heard during his sittings, but viewed with suspicion by some investigators.
Michael Whiteman
British-born mathematician and philosopher (1906–2007) who was inspired by his own psychical and mystical experiences.
Etta Wriedt
American direct-voice medium (1859–1942) of considerable power, according to observers who attended sittings in the US and Britain.
Zancigs (telepathy stage act)
A mind-reading act performed by a Danish-American couple that may have included some genuine telepathy.