Name |
Description |
Involvement |
Link for more information |
Barrett, Sir William |
A physicist |
Researched ESP and authored the book Deathbed Visions reporting deathbed apparitions |
|
Bem, Daryl |
Professor of psychology |
Author of a widely noted "Feeling the Future" paper documenting precognition |
|
Brittan, S. B. MD |
A medical doctor |
Author of a classic of parapsychology "Man and His Relations" |
|
Bozanno, Ernest |
Psychologist and psychical researcher |
Pioneered the study of deathbed visions in his paper "Apparitions of Deceased Persons at Death-beds." Also wrote one of the first books documenting out-of-body experiences. |
|
Cahagnet, Louise Alphonse |
Psychical researcher |
His The Celestial Telegraph documented the most impressive clairvoyance in the subject Adele |
|
Carrington, Hereward |
Psychical researcher |
His Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena is a classic of psychical research |
|
Chastanet, Armand-Marc-Jacques de, the Marquis de Puységur |
|
A pivotal figure in psychical research but little known, he essentially discovered artificial somnambulism, later called hypnotism, inspired by the work of Franz Anton Mesmer. His work opened the door to later robust experimental evidence for clairvoyance (read here for an example). |
|
Crawford, W. J |
A mechanical engineer, which made him well-qualified for devising devices capable of testing whether paranormal phenomena were occurring at seances where levitation was reported |
In three books published around 1920, he documented the most thorough and careful evidence of levitation occurring at seances |
|
Crookall, Robert |
A geologist and psychical researcher |
One of the first scholars to write books documenting out-of-body experiences |
|
Crookes, Sir William |
A leading physicist who discovered the element thallium, and invented the Crookes tube that was the forerunner of all TV sets. |
Supervised successful tests of paranormal phenomena with the medium Daniel Dunglas Home and Florence Cook. |
|
Crowe, Catherine |
Psychical researcher |
Her 500-page The Night Side of Nature was a deep dive into mysterious phenomena |
|
Deleuze, Joseph-Philippe-François |
A naturalist and botanist |
Documented clairvoyance under hypnotism (then called animal magnetism) |
|
Esdaille, James |
Physician and surgeon |
Achieved the most enormous success in performing very many painless surgeries in India by using only hypnosis for pain relief. Documented the paranormal in his book Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance. |
|
Flammarion, Camille |
Professional astronomer and psychical researcher |
Author of the monumental three-volume work Death and Its Mystery (which you can read here, here and here), as well as the massive tome The Unknown |
|
Fukarai, Tomokici |
Professor and President of the Psychical Institute of Japan |
Author of Clairvoyance & Thoughtography documenting paranormal effects |
|
Geley, Gustave |
Physician |
Author of From the Unconscious to the Conscious documenting the paranormal |
|
Greyson, Bruce |
Physician |
A leading researcher of near-death experiences |
|
Gregory, William |
Professor of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh (founded in 1582, and the sixth oldest English university) |
Documented very carefully dramatic cases of clairvoyance, in his book Letters to a Candid Inquirer, on Animal Magnetism. |
|
Gully, Dr. J. M. |
Physician |
Attested to the reality of the Florence Cook/Katie King materialization phenomenon |
|
Gurney, Edmund |
Psychologist and psychical researcher |
One of the three authors of the monumental two-volume work Phantasms of the Living, the first major study of apparitions |
|
Haddock, Dr. Joseph |
Physician |
His book Somnolism and Psycheism documented astonishing clairvoyance in his patient Emma |
|
Haraldsson, Erlendur |
Psychologist and psychical researcher |
Co-author (with Karlis Osis) of At the Hour of Death, a major work studying deathbed visions |
|
Hare, Robert |
Professor of chemistry at Harvard University |
Authored the book Experimental investigation of the Spirit Manifestations asserting the reality of dramatic paranormal phenomena |
|
Hodgson, Richard |
Psychical researcher |
One of the main investigators of Leonora Piper, eventually becoming convinced she provided evidence of life after death |
|
Hyslop, J. W. |
Professor of Logic and Ethics in Columbia University |
Author of the book Contact With the Other World documenting evidence for life after death |
Link (p. 585) Link (p. 627) |
James, William |
Sometimes called the founder of American psychology |
A noted contributor to psychical research, and one of the main investigators of Leonora Piper |
|
Joire, Dr. Paul |
Professor at the Pstcho-Physiologioal Institute of France, President of the Sooiete Univbbselle d'Etudes Pstchiques |
Wrote a 633-page book "Psychical and Supernormal Phenomena, Their Observation and Experimentation." |
|
Kerner, Justinus |
A physician |
Pioneered the serious study of apparitions, and documented clairvoyance in Frederica Hauffe |
Link Link Alternate link |
Lodge, Sir Oliver |
A physicist |
Author of the book Raymond, or Life and Death documenting successful encounters with mediums |
|
London Dialectical Society |
A society with no doctrinal predispositions that made an elaborate investigation of paranormal phenomena beginning in 1869 |
Its investigators took direct testimony from very many witnesses, and published a 400+ page report documenting the reality of many types of paranormal phenomena. |
|
Lombroso, Cesare |
A physician and extremely influential criminology theorist |
Author of the book After Death, What? documenting the paranormal, including observations of inexplicable events at seances of Eusapia Palladino |
|
Maxwell, J. MD |
Physician |
Author of Metaphysical Phenomena: Methods and Observations, documenting many paranormal phenomena |
|
Moody, Raymond |
A psychiatrist and psychical researcher |
Wrote the first widely-read book on near-death experiences |
|
Myers, F. W. |
One of the main founders of the Society for Psychical Research |
Author of the monumental two-volume psychology and psychical research work Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death |
|
Ochorowicz, Julien |
Psychology professor |
Ran successful levitation experiments with medium Stanislas Tomczyk. Documented the paranormal in his 1891 book Mental Suggestion. |
|
Osty, Eugene |
Medical practitioner and director of the Institut Métapsychique International in Paris |
Author of the book Supernormal Faculties in Man |
|
Owen, Robert Dale |
Once a US congressman |
Author of two classic works documenting the paranormal |
Link Link Alternate link |
Radin, Dean |
Physicist |
Has done experiments showing psi effects |
|
Rhine, Joseph Banks |
Professor of Psychology, Duke University |
Did many years of experimental tests showing the reality of ESP |
|
Rhine, Louisa |
One of the leading collectors of accounts of spontaneous telepathy and spontaneous precognition. |
||
Riess, Bernard F. |
Professor at City College, CUNY |
Despite a lack of enthusiasm for the topic, he ran the most successful ESP test ever, getting "smoking gun" evidence |
|
Richet, Charles |
Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1913 |
Author of the long book "Thirty Years of Psychical Research." Documented paranormal phenomena occurring with mediums. |
|
Schrenck-Notzing, Albert von. |
Physician |
Author of the long work Phenomena of Materialization documenting paranormal phenomena |
|
Sheldrake, Rupert |
Biologist |
Did experiments supporting the reality of ESP |
|
Wallace, Alfred Russel |
Co-founder of the theory of evolution by natural selection |
Documented the reality of paranormal phenomena in works such as On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism |
|
Zollner, Johann |
Professor of physical astronomy |
Author of the book Transcendental Physics documenting paranormal phenomena |
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
40+ Leading Researchers of the Paranormal
Below is a table listing alphabetically some of the leading researchers of paranormal phenomena. The list includes many scientists and physicians. Pressing the links in the right column will take you to relevant works by such persons, or articles about their work, almost all of which can be read online for free, without any login difficulties.
Some of the links below go to URLs at www.archive.org, which has been restored after a service outage. If you have trouble using a link, try one of the links marked Alternate Links, which go to an entirely different repository.
You did a lot of work on this list. I would like to offer a few for your future consideration.
ReplyDeleteI am a NSAC Certified Spiritualist Teacher. One of my issues with the Morris Pratt "Course on Modern American Spiritualism" is that it teaches about "Pioneers" as if learning ended a hundred years ago. In fact, we have many "Contemporary pioneers" who bring more useful information. Other people will surely have other names to contribute.
My test is whether the person has moved our community toward understanding. Simply studying a subject or giving it a new name seldom adds to our understanding.
Robert Monroe who established hemispheric synchronization and frequency following as a technique for mental entrainment. monroeinstitute.org/
James Carpenter for developing First Sight Theory drjimcarpenter.com
Ernst Senkowski who coined the term Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) His book by the same name has been an important contribution to our understanding of physical phenomena. victorzammit.com/articles/senkowski.htm
Friedrich Jürgenson and Konstantin Raudive who are credited with introducing Electronic Voice Phenomena to the public. google.com/books/edition/Breakthrough/tQKjzgEACAAJ?hl=en
Walter von Lucadou for his introduction of
The Model of Pragmatic Information which helps us understand the relationship between the phenomena and witnesses. api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:42524853
They are the thinkers I often reference in my writing.
By the way, I think Rupert Sheldrakes major contribution to consciousness studies is his Hypothesis of Formative Causation (aka Morphic Resonance). sheldrake.org/research/morphic-resonance/introduction?
Thanks for the list