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.
Bindelof Phenomena
Describes séance phenomena experienced by a group of American teenage boys between 1929 and 1933.
Book Tests
Investigative technique that demonstrates knowledge of book contents that neither medium nor sitter can be expected to know.
The Buried Crosses
Describes successful efforts in the 1930s to locate buried Aztec Indian relics from information provided by a spirit medium.
Copenhagen Fire
Early nineteenth-century mediumship case in which a communicator in Iceland reported a fire then underway in Denmark.
The Cross-Correspondences
Apparently coordinated messages through different mediums, thought to provide strong evidence of survival.
De Rochas on Physical Mediumship
A 1896 book gives a detailed description of physical phenomena produced by Eusapia Palladino and others.
Did Robert Swain Gifford Survive Death?
Analysis of the Thompson-Gifford case of ostensible possession as evidence of survival.
Larry Dossey
Larry Dossey is an American physician and author of books about psychic experiences, healing and nonlocal consciousness.
Drop-In Communicators
Communicators unknown to both medium and sitters who provide enough information for their identification.
Edgar Vandy Case
In this 1930s case, four mediums independently gave strikingly concordant information about a young man's death by drowning.
Encounters With the Deceased
Describes types and characteristics of encounters with deceased loved ones in dreams and elsewhere.
Felix Experimental Group
German circle for physical mediumship noted for the magnitude and diversity of its phenomena.
George Chapman/William Lang
British trance medium (1921–2006) reputed to channel the spirit of William Lang, an ophthalmic surgeon.
The Glastonbury Scripts
Communications through a medium, seemingly in an attempt to help an archaeologist with his excavations.
Goligher Circle
Northern Irish Spiritualist group said to produce striking psychic phenomena, the subject of detailed experiments in the 1910s.
The Hodgson Report on Theosophy
Controversial report on Helena Blavatsky by Richard Hodgson for the SPR, which alleged fraud.
The Junot Sittings (Leonora Piper)
Highly evidential communications purporting to come from the surviving spirit of a deceased teenager.
Lurancy Vennum
American case (of a 13-year old girl appearing for some months to be possessed by the spirit of a girl who had died years before
Maroczy Mediumistic Chess Match
Match played between a living Russian grandmaster and a deceased Hungarian one.
Mediumship and Multiple Personality
The personalities of mediumistic communicators are similar to dissociative identity disorder.
Mediumship and Pathology
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, some in medicine regarded mediumship as an abnormal condition.
Mediumship and Spirit Possession in Cross-Cultural Perspective
There is great overlap in the expression of mediumship and spirit possession.
Mental Mediumship Research
A review of studies carried out with mental mediums in Britain, Europe and America since 2001.
Morselli’s Psicologia e Spiritismo
Study of Eusapia Palladino, with emphasis on clinical and psychological aspects of the case.
Perspectival Postmortem Awareness
How could a deceased person view events in the physical world in the absence of a body with sense organs?
Philip Psychokinesis Experiments
Landmark 1970s experiment in which a Canadian sitter group created psychokinetic phenomena.
Physicalism and the Soul
Explores the nature of souls, afterlives, and possible gods that would be compatible with modern physicalist science.
Postmortem Survival
This article describes the branch of psychical research concerned with whether the human mind can survive bodily death.
Queen Victoria and Spiritualism
Queen Victoria took an interest in spiritualist phenomena, particularly after the death of her mother and Prince Albert.
R-101 Airship Disaster
Classic case, in which a communicator identified himself as captain of an airship that had crashed two days earlier.
Raymond Lodge
The soldier son of Sir Oliver Lodge who was killed in battle in 1915 and subsequently communicated with his family through mediums.
The Scole Circle
This Norfolk-based group held séances during the 1990s, claiming to have communicated with spirits and observed other phenomena.
Spirit Release Therapy
This article describes a clinical treatment used with patients who appear to be ‘possessed’ by harmful spirit entities.
The Super-Psi Hypothesis
Claim that psychic functioning is more extensive than supposed, able to explain most evidence for survival.
Survival: What Makes An Ideal Case?
Stephen Braude considers flaws in survival research and outlines what would make an ideal case.
Table-Turning
‘Table-turning’ (or ‘table-tipping) refers to the anomalous movement of tables and other furniture during mediumistic seances.
Thompson-Gifford Case
Nineteenth century case of a jeweller who was driven to produce high quality paintings in the style of a recently deceased landscape painter.
Transplant Cases Considered as Evidence for Postmortem Survival
Recipients of organ transplants may take on the personality of their donors.
Windbridge Institute
Founded in 2008 to conduct research on psi functioning, with an emphasis on real-world applications.
Windbridge Research Center
Non-profit research unit based in Tucson, Arizona, dedicated to the rigorous study of mental mediums.
Is Xenoglossy Evidence of Survival?
Xenoglossy in mediumship is less indicative of survival than some researchers assume.