Welcome to the Psi Encyclopedia! We aspire to provide a comprehensive introduction to academic parapsychology, which studies the range of psychic experiences collectively termed ‘psi’. The existence of psi phenomena – and the related idea that consciousness is independent of the physical body and so may survive death – is strongly disputed by materialist scientists, yet parapsychologists are convinced they have evidence for these things. The Psi Encyclopedia presents this evidence in nearly 750 signed articles by over 80 authors, many of them senior academics, arranged in categories and subcategories that highlight the major interests of the field. It is sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research.
Mark Boccuzzi created this short video that explains what we are about.
Featured
Rhea A White
American parapsychologist, librarian, bibliographer, and editor of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Francis Bacon and the Occult
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) believed in the possibility of psi but opposed its investigation on theological grounds.
Animals in Psi Research
The psi abilities of animals have been reported in informal observations and tests, including modern lab experiments.
Eminent People Interested in Psi (list)
A list of some 200 scientists, thinkers, writers, and artists who took seriously the possibility of psi.
Psi Research in Brazil
This article traces the development of interest in psi phenomena and parapsychological research in Brazil.
Why Do Ghosts Wear Clothes?
Sceptics use the fact that apparitions appear fully clad as reason to doubt them. This article discusses why they might.
Maroczy Mediumistic Chess Match
Match played between a living Russian grandmaster and a deceased Hungarian one.
Key Topics
Remote Viewing
An experimental form of clairvoyance, in which a suitably trained person attempts to visualise the topography of a distant scene.
Near-Death Experiences (Overview)
This article describes anomalous mental events reported by people who have survived a near-fatal accident or illness.
Society for Psychical Research (SPR)
Membership organization founded in London in 1882 for the scientific investigation of claims of psychic phenomena.
Psychokinesis Research (Overview)
Research on PK has progressed from early tests with dice to random number generators, field studies, and quantum experiments.
Clinical Parapsychology
Therapeutic approach that aims to provide support for people disturbed by anomalous event experiences.
Reincarnation: An Introduction
This introductory article covers beliefs in reincarnation, evidence for reincarnation, and sceptical views of the research.
Psychedelics and Psi
A gradual easing of restrictions means that psi research with psychedelics, once prevalent, could soon resume.
Altered States of Consciousness and Psi
ASCs have long been known to be associated with psi experiences.
Recent Additions
Presentiment Research Methods
Confirmatory studies should be preregistered and use pre-stimulus physiological data to predict random stimuli.
Charles Drayton Thomas
Methodist minister (1867–1953) who studied mental mediumship, chiefly of Gladys Osborne Leonard.
Free-Response Methods
Targets such as random images or locations allow for richer impressions than do forced-choice tests.
Children’s Near-Death Experiences
New research employs creative, participatory methods to interview children about their NDEs.
Psi Research in France
This article discusses psi research in France, from nineteenth century ‘animal magnetism’ to the present day.
Callum E Cooper
British psychologist who specializes in the study of spontaneous cases of psi phenomena.
Preventing Researcher Fraud
Preventive research practices offer the strongest protections against fraud in parapsychology.
Dealing with the Stacking Effect
When several test participants respond to the same target, their trials are statistically dependent.
Peter Underwood
British paranormal researcher long associated with the Ghost Club, author of more than 50 about haunting phenomena.
Gustav Theodor Fechner
German pioneer in experimental psychology who proposed an influential theory of immortality.
JB Rhine and the Replication Crisis in Research
Rhine anticipated reforms linked to psychology’s replication crisis.
Cyril L Burt
Influential but controversial British psychologist (1883–1971) who believed psychic phenomena merited serious attention.
Elizabeth Jane Puttock (Elizabeth d’Esperance)
British medium whose materialisation séances attracted both supporters and critics.
The Widow’s Mite
Veridical mediumistic communications about a misplaced ancient Roman coin that suggest postmortem survival.
Isaac K Funk
American clergyman, editor, publisher and lexicographer who was well-known for his psychical investigations in his day.
Psychical Research before 1882
Several investigators of séance phenomena helped prepare the ground for the creation of the SPR in 1882.
Cromwell Fleetwood Varley
Telegraph engineer (1828–83) who tested Florence Cook with apparatus of his own invention.
Rhea A White
American parapsychologist, librarian, bibliographer, and editor of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Melvyn John Willin
English musician, psychical researcher and SPR audiovisual archivist whose work has centred on music-related anomalies.
John Björkhem
Swedish priest, physician, hypnotist and psychical researcher (1910–1963) who experimented with hypnosis and psychometry.
Explore the Psi Encyclopedia
ESP & Psychokinesis
Extra-sensory perception (ESP) comprises telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition. Psychokinesis (PK) is the direct influence on matter by mind alone. Both ESP and PK have been tested in the laboratory and studied in real life situations. Together they constitute psi, in the strict sense of the term. Subcategories group together overviews and general topics in psi studies, tests of ESP and PK, and researcher biographies.
Kenneth J Batcheldor
British psychologist (1921–1988) who showed 'table tipping' could be produced by living agents collectively in sitter groups.
Robert Morris
American psychologist and parapsychologist (1942–2004) who chaired Edinburgh University's Koestler Parapsychology Unit.
Noah’s Ark Society for Physical Mediumship
The NAS originated in a home circle in 1990 and indirectly fostered the later Scole Circle.
Mind & Body
This category contains articles that treat consciousness in relation to the body. Subcategories focus on consciousness and psi; dreams and psi; and distant healing and psychotherapy. Also included are sitter groups and macro-psychokinesis as well as poltergeists, often assumed to relate to discarnate entities but now known more often to have living agents. A final subgroup is concerned with out-of-body and near-death experiences and events reported on the threshold of death.
Phenomena Related to Danger, Death, and Bereavement
Anomalous mental phenomena may be triggered by emotional crises.
Near-Death Experiences – Paranormal Aspects
List of NDEs with confirmed clairvoyance and other paranormality.
Lucid Dreaming
This article surveys research on dreams in which the dreamer is aware of being in a dream and sometimes can control the dream.
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. Subcategories focus on hauntings and apparitions and on psychic (also called mental) mediumship.
Enfield Poltergeist
Celebrated 1970s case in which poltergeist disturbances were documented over a two-year period.
R-101 Airship Disaster
Classic case, in which a communicator identified himself as captain of an airship that had crashed two days earlier.
Hafsteinn Björnsson (medium)
Icelandic trance medium (1914-1977) who produced 'drop-in' communications and xenoglossy.
Reincarnation
Reincarnation beliefs are widespread in the world and in recent decades researchers have found what they believe is evidence of them through the study of people (mainly children) who claim to have lived before. Subcategories highlight case studies, past life regression, and biographies of major researchers.
Reincarnation Cases with Records Made Before Verifications
There are still fewer than three dozen published examples of these important cases.
Reincarnation Cases with Sex Change
Memories of a life as a member of the opposite sex are often accompanied by cross-sex behaviour.
Duminda Ratnayake (reincarnation case)
Sri Lankan boy who recalled being a Buddhist monk, behaved like one and chanted in Pali.
Researchers & Authors
Here can be found more than 300 biographical profiles of key figures who have been involved in psi research and parapsychology as field investigators, experimentalists, theorists and commentators. The biographies are grouped in subcategories by 30-year age cohorts, highlighting contemporaries.
Jule Eisenbud
American psychoanalyst (1908–1998) known for his insightful theorising about unconscious motivation and psi effects.
Camille Flammarion
French astronomer and psychical researcher (1842–1925), notable for his writings on psi and mediumship.
Donald J West
English psychiatrist and criminologist (1924–2020) who was active in psi research and the SPR for eight decades.
Organizations
The oldest organizations devoted to parapsychology were member organizations like the Society for Psychical Research, established in London in 1882. Since JB Rhine founded the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University in 1930, there have been university-based units as well. This category comprises both historical and contemporary bodies concerned with research and education in parapsychology.
Windbridge Institute
Institution founded in 2008 to conduct research on psi functioning, with an emphasis on real-world applications.
Exceptional Experience and Consciousness Studies (EECS)
Based at the University of Northampton, this is the largest centre for parapsychological research in the world.
Institut Métapsychique International (IMI)
Since 1919, France's IMI has made important contributions to psi and mediumship research.
Sceptical Views
Sceptics argue that psychics and mediums achieve their effects by trickery, that psychic experience is an illusory effect caused by a combination of brain misperceptions and confirmation bias, and that evidence of psi in laboratory tests can be attributed to poor methodology. This category includes biographies of leading sceptics as well as general articles discussing their allegations.
James Alcock
Canadian psychology professor, amateur magician and career psi sceptic, member of the Executive Council for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
Marcello Truzzi
American sociologist known for distinguishing open-minded scepticism of psi phenomena from simple debunking.
James Randi
Canadian-born conjurer (1928–2020) and public scourge of psychics, faith healers, parapsychologists and practitioners of alternative medicine.
General Topics
This category contains articles on a variety of topics that do not fit well in any of the main categories, from dowsing to crop circles and other anomalistic phenomena, the Miscellaneous Anomalistic subcategory. Other subcategories list articles on psychics and mystic and on important articles, books and journals in the field of parapsychology.
Dowsing
Traditional method of locating underground water or minerals by the movement of a pair of metal rods, a forked stick or a pendulum.
Electromagnetism and Paranormal Phenomena
Electromagnetism may be implicated in reports of seemingly paranormal phenomena.
UFOs, Aliens and Psi
Review of the research literature on UFO sightings and alien encounters, which may include claims of psi phenomena.