The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a non-profit organization in the United Kingdom whose purpose is to research and investigate supernatural, magical, paranormal, and occult phenomena in a scientific and unbiased manner. It was founded in 1882 by three dons of Trinity College, Cambridge, Edmund Gurney, Frederic William Henry Myers, and Henry Sidgwick, because of their interest in spiritualism. A nonprofit organization (abbreviated NPO, or non-profit or not-for-profit) is an organization whose primary objective is to support some issue or matter of private interest or public concern for non-commercial purposes. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Magic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The term magic is a Persian loanword into English and may refer to: Magic (paranormal) deals with the manipulation of what the practitioner believes to be genuine paranormal phenomena. ... Anomalous phenomena are phenomena which are observed and for which there are no suitable explanations in the context of a specific body of scientific knowledge, e. ... The word occult comes from the Latin occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to the knowledge of the secret or knowledge of the hidden and often popularly meaning knowledge of the supernatural, as opposed to knowledge of the visible or knowledge of the measurable, usually referred to as science. ... A phenomenon (plural: phenomena) is an observable event, especially something special (literally something that can be seen from the Greek word phainomenon = observable). ... For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ... 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names King’s Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... Edmund Gurney (March 23, 1847 - June 23, 1888), English psychologist, was born at Hersham, near Walton-on-Thames. ... Frederick William Henry Myers (February 6, 1843 - January 17, 1901), was an English poet and essayist. ... Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (May 31, 1838–August 28, 1900) was an English philosopher. ... Spiritualism is a religious movement, prominent from the 1840s to the 1920s, found primarily in English-speaking countries. ...

The Society has a membership of 5,500 and an average revenue of 5.2 million pounds per year. Its headquarters is in Marloes Road, London.

The Society holds no corporate opinions: all opinions expressed are those of the individual members. It publishes the quarterly Journal of The Society for Psychical Research (JSPR) and irregular Proceedings, and holds an annual conference.

History

Its purpose was to encourage scientific research into psychic or paranormal phenomena in order to establish their truth. Research was initially aimed at six areas: telepathy, mesmerism and similar phenomena, mediums, apparitions, physical phenomena associated with séances and, finally, the history of all these phenomena. The Society is run by a President and a Council of twenty people. The organisation is divided between London and Cambridge, the London headquarters were initially at 14 Dean's Yard. An American branch of the Society was formed in 1885 as the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR), becoming an affiliate of the original SPR in 1890. Famous supporters of the society have included Alfred Lord Tennyson, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Carl Jung, J. B. Rhine and Arthur Conan Doyle (who was shamefully duped on at least one occasion by tricksters). Parapsychology is the study of certain types of paranormal phenomena (parapsychology comes from the Greek para, “beside, beyond,” + psychology, derived from the Greek psyche, “soul, mind,” + logos “rational discussion”). The term was coined by Max Dessoir (1889). ... Anomalous phenomena are phenomena which are observed and for which there are no suitable explanations in the context of a specific body of scientific knowledge, e. ... // Telepathy (from the Greek τηλε, tele, distant; and πάθεια, patheia, feeling) is the communication of information from one mind to another by means other than the known perceptual senses. ... Hypnosis, as defined by the American Psychological Association Division of Psychological Hypnosis, is a procedure during which a health professional or researcher suggests that a client, patient, or experimental participant experience changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, or behavior. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Channelling (mediumistic). ... Generally, an apparition is act or instance of appearing. ... A séance (pronounced: ) is, on its most basic level, an attempt to communicate with the dead. ... Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Lewis Carroll. ... Carl Jungs autobiographical work Memories , Dreams, Reflections, Fontana edition Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875, Kesswil, – June 6, 1961, Küsnacht) (IPA: ) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. ... Joseph Banks Rhine (September 29, 1895 - February 20, 1980) was a pioneer of parapsychology. ... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... Frances with the fairies, taken by Elsie in July 1917. ...

The Society was especially active in the thirty years after it was founded, gaining fame for the Hodgson Report in 1884. Most initial members were spiritualists but there was a core of 'professional' investigators - the Sidgwick Group, headed by Henry Sidgwick, a formation pre-dating the SPR by eight years. The Society was weakened by internal strife, a large part of the members (the Spiritists) left as early as 1887 in opposition to the non-spiritualist approach taken by most intellectuals. The Hodgson Report was a report by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1884. ... Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (May 31, 1838–August 28, 1900) was an English philosopher. ... Spiritualism is a religious movement, prominent from the 1840s to the 1920s, found primarily in English-speaking countries. ...

Remark concerning the persons in italics: Eleanor Sidgwick was the wife of Henry Sidgwick and the sister of both Arthur Balfour and Gerald Balfour. Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (May 31, 1838–August 28, 1900) was an English philosopher. ... Balfour Stewart (November 1, 1828 - December 19, 1887), Scottish physicist, was born in Edinburgh, and was educated at the university of that city. ... Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (May 31, 1838–August 28, 1900) was an English philosopher. ... Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC (25 July 1848 – 19 March 1930) was a British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 until 1905. ... The name Balfour Declaration is applied to two key British government policy statements associated with Conservative statesman and former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. ... For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation) William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher. ... Sir William Crookes, OM, FRS (17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was an English chemist and physicist. ... Frederick William Henry Myers (February 6, 1843 - January 17, 1901), was an English poet and essayist. ... Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (June 12, 1851 - August 22, 1940), born at Penkhull near Stoke-on-Trent and educated at Adams Grammar School, was a physicist and writer involved in the development of the wireless telegraph. ... Charles Robert Richet (August 26, 1850 _ December 4, 1935) was a French physiologist who won the 1913 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on anaphylaxis, his term for the sometimes fatal reaction by a sensitized individual to a second injection of an antigen. ... Nobel Prize medal. ... For the former National Basketball Association player, see Andrew Lang (basketball). ... Henri-Louis Bergson (October 18, 1859–January 4, 1941) was a major French philosopher, influential in the first half of the 20th century. ... John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English physicist who (with William Ramsay) discovered the element argon, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. ... There have been several people called William McDougall For the Canadian politician, see William McDougall (politician) For the British psychologist, see William McDougall (psychologist) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Camille Flammarion (February 26, 1842 – June 3, 1925) was a French astronomer. ... Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch (October 28, 1867 - April 16, 1941) was a German biologist and philosopher. ... Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (June 12, 1851 - August 22, 1940), born at Penkhull near Stoke-on-Trent and educated at Adams Grammar School, was a physicist and writer involved in the development of the wireless telegraph. ... Charlie Dunbar Broad (known as C. D. Broad) (30 December 1887 - 11 March 1971) was an English philosopher known for his thorough and objective analysis in works such as Scientific Thought (1930) and Examination of McTaggarts Philosophy (1933). ... John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English physicist who (with William Ramsay) discovered the element argon, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. ... Charlie Dunbar Broad (known as C. D. Broad) (30 December 1887 - 11 March 1971) was an English philosopher known for his thorough and objective analysis in works such as Scientific Thought (1930) and Examination of McTaggarts Philosophy (1933). ... Eric Robertson Dodds (26 July 1893 - 8 April 1973) was a British classical scholar. ... Sir Alister Hardy (1896 - 1985) was an Oxford-educated marine biologist, expert on zooplankton and marine ecosystems. ... Joseph Banks Rhine (September 29, 1895 – February 20, 1980) was a pioneer of parapsychology. ...

Today

The Society still exists and states its principal aim as "understanding events and abilities commonly described as 'psychic' or 'paranormal' by promoting and supporting important research in this area." Of its initial aims, the most successful has been the gathering of data relating to the history of the paranormal - the SPR has built up an extensive library and archive, part of which is held at the University of Cambridge. The Journal is peer reviewed and respected in the field of parapsychology.

The Society still has many well known figures among its members, including parapsychologists Susan Blackmore, Ciarán O' Keeffe, and Louie Savva. Investigators of spontaneous phenomena (hauntings, etc.) include Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair who are best known for the Enfield Poltergeist. Susan Jane Blackmore (born July 29, 1951) is a British freelance writer, lecturer, and broadcaster, perhaps best known for her book The Meme Machine. ... MOST HAUNTEDS KREED KAFER OUTCRY REVELATION Living TV’s psychic and spiritualist medium Derek Acorah, 56, was asked to explain allegations of deception where he claimed to have taken on the identity of a long-dead South African male known as Kreed Kafer - an anagram of Derek Faker, which... Young British parapsychologist based in 2005 at University College Nottingham where lectures on parapsychology and anomalous experience. ... The Enfield Poltergeist was a period of apparant poltergeist activity in England between August 1977 and September 1978, with an added outburst in August 1980. ...

References

• Vernon Harrison. (1997) H. P. Blavatsky and the SPR. ISBN 1-55700-119-7

Vernon Harrison (Warwichshire 1912 -) is a professional research worker of disputed documents. ...

See also

• Perrott-Warrick Fund[1]

External links

• SPR home page
• The Society for Psychical Research Scandal
• The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Paranormal Claims
• The Need for Responsibility in Parapsychology: My Sixty Years in Psychical Research by Eric Dingwall, a history and evaluation