The natural philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626), a key figure of the scientific revolution, is widely believed to have been sceptical of psychic phenomena. In fact, his writings show a strong belief in the occult and also in the possibility that its manifestations could be investigated empirically; his reluctance to do…
…(1925). and the views expressed there were developed further as his career progressed, most notably in another monumental book, Lectures on Psychical Research.2Broad (1962). Broad’s writing on parapsychology was confined primarily to the topics of ESP and postmortem survival. Psychokinesis, on the other hand, was a topic he dismissed more…
…investigate spontaneous cases with Edmund Gurney and FWH Myers for Phantasms of the Living (1886). His later writings increasingly explained mediumship and poltergeist claims through fraud, conjuring and witness error. Survival evidence he could not explain away he believed could be accounted for by ESP. Life and Career Podmore was…
…is peculiarly her own, and consists in writing with her finger, and leaving behind marks as of a lead pencil, while no such article is in her possession or even in the room. She will also take hold of the hand of the sitters, and cause the same phenomenon of…
…by other researchers. He has published widely on optical and mind-matter experiments, while also writing accessible books that helped popularise modern parapsychology. Some scientists have challenged his statistical results and interpretations, but others have treated his work as a serious empirical programme. Life and Career Early Life Dean I Radin…
…automatically reliable nor automatically worthless, but as evidence whose force depends on context, convergence and the nature of the claim. Stephen Braude argues that appeals to general human bias cannot by themselves explain away every strong case, because some reports contain features that are difficult to assimilate to ordinary perceptual…
…founded or ran several newspapers and journals before turning serious attention to psychology and séance phenomena. Held that mediumistic effects were real yet produced by an automatic force generated within the human organism rather than by spirits. Worked with William Crookes on mediumistic investigations, later breaking with him over the…
…the Council of the Society for Psychical Research for 57years, eventually becoming vice-president. He exposed weaknesses in some physical mediumship performances, including slate-writing and Eusapia Palladino’s phenomena. Although cautious about proof, he regarded short-range telepathy as highly important and insufficiently studied. Life and Career Joseph John Thomson was born in…
…Kelly’s writings on near-death experience emphasise cases in which vivid mentation coincides with documented physiological decline. She has stressed proxy sittings in mediumship research, and one larger DOPS study yielded highly significant results. Her contributions to Irreducible Mind and related books defend filter-transmission models of consciousness and revive Myers’s neglected…
