…During disturbed trances, Lurancy first spoke as other figures before identifying herself as Mary Roff. Going to live with the Roff family, she employed a childhood pet name unheard since Mary’s death. Richard Hodgson later judged the main events substantially credible, yet critics have proposed hysterical impersonation or multiple personality…
…appeared at one stage to give credence to Blavatsky’s claims.40Price (1985), 25-35. However, the robust, if partially flawed, exposure of Blavatsky reported by his SPR colleague Richard Hodgson in 1885, changed his mind.41Price (1986). Phantasms of the Living The debunking of Blavatsky by the SPR came at a fortuitous moment,…
…American Journal of Science. In 1855, he declared his conversion to Spiritualism and published a book about his investigations of mediums, for which he developed experimental apparatus. Hare’s reputation ensured a wide audience, although his claims were harshly attacked by fellow scientists. Richard Hodgson (1855–1905) Australian by birth, Richard Hodgson…
…What Happens When We Die (2006), Sam Parnia includes a case related to him by cardiologist Richard Mansfield.23Parnia (2006). During a night shift, Mansfield had been called to deal with a cardiac arrest; the patient, a 32-year-old man, had no pulse, was not breathing and had a flat ECG. The…
…small-scale ostensibly paranormal phenomena (e.g., slate-writing), subjects err in their observations and sometimes report events that never occurred.17Besterman (1932); Hodgson (1892); Hodgson & Davey (1887). But the conditions of these tests were much more conducive to malobservation than those in the best studies of mediums, and the magnitude of error…
…Lodge, Richard Hodgson, Margaret Verrall and others. As well as describing sittings of his own7For instance, Piddington (1902b), 116-37. Piddington authored a second major report,8Piddington (1904a), 104-307. in which he reviewed the collected material to comment on features such as the personalities and behaviour of Thompson’s ‘controls’, the nature of…
Richard Wiseman occupies a distinctive place in psi history as both investigator and prominent sceptical critic. His work on hauntings, mass testing, luck, misattribution and experimental method has been widely cited, while disputes over replications, meta-analysis and the interpretation of negative results have kept him central to controversy. Wiseman has…
…and observations. Journal of Scientific Exploration 14, 233-55. Storr, W. (2013). Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science. Picador, London. Tsakiris, A. (2009). Dr. Richard Wiseman on Rupert Sheldrake’s dogs that know. [Interview published on Skeptiko.] Tsakiris, A. (2010). Rupert Sheldrake and Richard Wiseman clash over parapsychology experiments. [Podcast debate…
…the sisters pretended to receive written ‘spirit messages’.10Krebs (1901), 5-16. Further details of trick methods attributed to the sisters were published by SPR researchers Richard Hodgson11Hodgson (1899), 223-36. and Hereward Carrington12Carrington (1913), 76-94. and by David P Abbot, a stage magician.13Abbot (1913). Portraits Collection A collection of portraits produced by…
