Paranormal Researcher
A photograph of Harry Price, taken by paranormal hoaxer William Hope in 1922
Biography
Name:	Harry Price
Born:	January 17, 1881 United Kingdom
Died:	March 29, 1948
Resume
Field:	Psychic Researcher
Affiliates:	Magic Circle, National Laboratory of Psychical Research, American Society for Psychical Research, University of London Council for Psychical Investigation, Ghost Club

Harry Price (January 17, 1881 – March 29, 1948) was a British psychic researcher and author. Image File history File linksMetadata Harry_price_by_william_hope. ... William Hope, (1863 - March 8, 1933), was a supposed pioneer of spirit photography. ... Year 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 88th day of the year (89th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the magicians organization. ... The National Laboratory of Psychical Research was established in 1925 by Harry Price, at the location of 13 Roland Gardens, London, S.W.7. ... 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. ... The Ghost Club, founded in London in 1862, is believed to be the oldest paranormal research organisation in the world. ... Harry Price is a programmer for the ZX Spectrum. ... is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 88th day of the year (89th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Early life

He was educated in London at Waller Road School and Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College, the Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Boys School^[1]. When he was 15 years of age Price founded the Carlton Dramatic Society ^[2] and wrote small plays including a drama about his early experience with a poltergeist^[3], which he said took place at a haunted manor house in Shropshire.^[4], This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Haberdashers Askes Hatcham College was formerly a Grammar school, then a comprehensive City Technology College, now an Academy operating between two sites near New Cross Gate in South-East London. ... Carlton Dramatic Society is an Amateur Dramatics group, based in Wimbledon, UK, who have been performing in the local theatres and venues for nearly 80 years. ... Shropshire (abbreviated Salop or Shrops) is a traditional, ceremonial and administrative county in the West Midlands region of England. ...

A few years later, Price came to the attention of the Press when he claimed an early interest in space-telegraphy. He set up a receiver and transmitter between Telegraph Hill, Hatcham and St Peter's Church Brockley and captured a spark on a photographic plate, though according to the most recent biography of Price by Richard Morris, this was nothing more than Harry writing a press release saying he had done the experiment. Nothing was verified. The young Price also had an avid interest in coin collecting and wrote several articles for The Askean, the magazine for Haberdashers' School. In his autobiography, Search for Truth, written between 1941 and 1942, Price claimed he was involved with archaeological excavations in Greenwich Park, London but in earlier writings on Greenwich denied he had a hand in the excavation. From around May 1908 Price continued his interest in archaeology at Pulborough, Sussex where he had moved to before marrying Constance Mary Knight that August. As well as working for paper merchants Edward Saunders & Sons as a salesman he wrote for two local Sussex newspapers the West Sussex Gazette and the Southern Weekly News where he wrote about his remarkable propensity for discovering 'clean' antiquities. One of these, a silver ingot, (later announced a fake) was stamped around the time of the last Roman emperor Honorius, a few years after another celebrated Sussex archaeologist Charles Dawson found a brick at Pevensey Fort in Sussex which was purportedly made in Honorius' time. In 1910 Professor E.J Haverfield of Oxford University, the country's foremost expert on Roman history and a Fellow of the Royal Academy announced it a fake. Coit Tower (photo courtesy of Michael Doeff) Coit Tower is a notable landmark dedicated to the San Francisco, California firefighters. ... New Cross Gate is an area within Lewisham mainly bounded by the SE14 postcode area. ... For other uses, see Brockley (disambiguation). ... For an article about the poet and science writer Richard Morris (1939-2003), see Richard (Ward) Morris Richard Morris (born May 20, 1964) is the third writer to have written a biography of the British psychic researcher Harry Price. ... Pulborough is a village/small town in West Sussex, England, of some 5000 inhabitants, located almost centrally within the county, and overlooking the floodplain of the River Arun, some five miles to the north of the South Downs. ... Sussex is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ... Bronze coin bearing the profile of Honorius Flavius Augustus Honorius (September 9, 384–August 15, 423) was Emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 395 until his death. ... Charles Dawson (1864–1916) was an amateur British archeologist who is credited or blamed with discoveries that turned out to be imaginative frauds, including that of the Piltdown man, which he presented in 1912. ... Sussex is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ...

A report for the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries (number 23, pages 121-9) in the same year reported that:

'..the double axe type of silver ingot was well known and dated from late Imperial times but the one recovered from Sussex was an inferior copy of one found at the Tower of London, with alterations to give it an air of authenticity. Both the shape and lettering betrayed its origin.'

Interest in magic and conjuring

In his autobiography, Search for Truth, Price said the “Great Sequah” in Shrewsbury was “entirely responsible for shaping much of my life’s work”^[5], and lead to him acquiring the first volume of what would become the Harry Price Library, Price later became an expert amateur conjurer, joined the Magic Circle in 1922 and maintained a lifelong interest in stage magic and conjuring. His expertise in sleight of hand and magic tricks stood him in good stead for what would become his all consuming passion, the investigation of paranormal phenomena. This article is about the town of Shrewsbury in England. ... This article is about the magicians organization. ... 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. ...

Psychical research

A photograph of Price and a Spirit taken by William Hope. Later proven to be a fake.

Price's first major success in psychical research came in 1922 when he exposed the 'spirit' photographer William Hope.^[6] During the same year, Price traveled to Germany together with Eric Dingwall and investigated Willi Schneider^[7] During Duncan's famous trial in 1944, Price gave his results as evidence for the prosecution. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... William Hope, (1863 - March 8, 1933), was a supposed pioneer of spirit photography. ... William Hope, (1863 - March 8, 1933), was a supposed pioneer of spirit photography. ... Willi Schneider (1903 – 1971), brother of Rudi Schneider, was an Austrian spiritualist physical medium investigated by notable psychical researchers Harry Price, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing and Eric J. Dingwall. ...

Price's psychical research continued with investigations into Karachi's Indian rope trick and the fire-walking abilities of Kuda Bux in 1935. He was also involved in the formation of the National Film Library (British Film Institute) becoming its first chairman (until 1941) and was a founding member of the Shakespeare Film Society. In 1936, Price broadcast from a supposedly haunted manor house in Meopham, Kent for the BBC and published The Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter and The Haunting of Cashen's Gap. This year also saw the transfer of Price's library on permanent loan to the University of London, followed shortly by the laboratory and investigative equipment. In 1937, he conducted further televised experiments into fire-walking with Ahmed Hussain at Carshalton and Alexandra Palace, and also rented Borley Rectory for one year. The following year, Price re-established the Ghost Club, with himself as chairman, conducted experiments with Rahman Bey who was 'buried alive' in Carshalton and drafted a Bill for the regulation of psychic practitioners. In 1939, he organized a national telepathic test in the periodical John O'London's Weekly. During the 1940s, Price concentrated on writing and the works The Most Haunted House in England, Poltergeist Over England and The End of Borley Rectory were all published. Kuda Bux (1906 - February 5th, 1981) was an Indian mystic and magician. ... The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and... Meopham (pronounced Mepp-um) is a large village five miles south of Gravesend, in Kent and is part of Gravesham Borough. ... The Kent coat of arms For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The University of London is a university based primarily in London. ... Fire-walking is the act of walking barefoot over a bed of hot coals. ... Carshalton is a suburb of London, part of the London Borough of Sutton, located 10 miles (16. ... Alexandra Palace from the south Alexandra Palace was built in an area spanning Wood Green and Muswell Hill, North London, England in 1873 as a public entertainment centre and North London counterpart of The Crystal Palace. ... Borley Rectory, in the village of Borley, Essex, United Kingdom, had the reputation of being the most haunted house in England and, possibly, the world. ... The Ghost Club, founded in London in 1862, is believed to be the oldest paranormal research organisation in the world. ... Carshalton is a suburb of London, part of the London Borough of Sutton, located 10 miles (16. ...

Published works

• Revelations of a Spirit Medium, with Eric J. Dingwall, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd, London, hardback, 1922.
• Cold Light on Spiritualistic "Phenomena" - An Experiment with the Crewe Circle, by Harry Price, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd, 1922.
• Stella C. An Account of Some Original Experiments in Psychical Research, Hurst & Blackett Ltd., hardback, 1925.
• Rudi Schneider: A Scientific Examination of his Mediumship, Methuen & Co. Ltd., hardback, 1930.
• Leaves from a Psychist’s Case Book, by Harry Price, Victor Gollancz Ltd., hardback, 1933.
• Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter, Putnam & Co. Ltd., London, hardback, 1936.
• The Haunting of Cashen's Gap: A Modern "Miracle" Investigated - With R.S. Lambert, Methuen & Co. Ltd., hardback, 1936.
• Fifty Years of Psychical Research: A Critical Survey Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd., hardback, 1939.
• The Most Haunted House in England: Ten Years' Investigation of Borley Rectory, Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd., hardback, 1940.
• Search for Truth: My Life for Psychical Research, Collins, London, hardback, 1942.
• Poltergeist Over England: Three Centuries of Mischievous Ghosts, Country Life Ltd., hardback, 1945.
• The End of Borley Rectory, Harrap & Co. Ltd., hardback, 1946.

References

1. ^ Harry Price, Biography of a Ghost Hunter by Paul Tabori. Page 21.
2. ^ Harry Price, Biography of a Ghost Hunter by Paul Tabori. Page 22.
3. ^ The Sceptic, performed December 2, 1898 at Amersham Hall
4. ^ Harry Price, Biography of a Ghost Hunter by Paul Tabori. Page 25.
5. ^ Harry Price, Biography of a Ghost Hunter by Paul Tabori. Page 21.
6. ^ Leaves from a Psychist’s Case Book by Harry Price, Page 213.
7. ^ Harry Price, Biography of]], traveled to Mount Brocken in Germany to conduct a 'black magic' experiment in connection with the centenary of Goethe, involving the transformation of a goat into a young man. The following year, Price made a formal offer to the University of London to equip and endow a Department of Psychical Research, and to loan the equipment of the National Laboratory and its library. The University of London Board of Studies in Psychology responded positively to this proposal and, in 1934, the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation was formed with Price as Honorary Secretary and Editor.By then he was as good as a monkey smelling chicken3 In 1934, the National Laboratory of Psychical Research took on its most illustrious case. £50 was paid to the medium Helen Duncan so that she could be examined under scientific conditions. A sample of Helen Duncan's ectoplasm had been previously examined by the Laboratory and found to be largely made of egg white. Price found that Duncan's spirit manifestations were cheesecloth that had been swallowed and regurgitated by Duncan. Price later wrote up the case in Leaves from a Psychist’s Case Book in a chapter called "The Cheese-cloth Worshippers".<ref>''Leaves from a Psychist’s Case Book'' by Harry Price, Pages 201-209.</li></ol></ref>

   Bibliography

   • Harry Price, Biography of a Ghost Hunter by Paul Tabori, Athenaem Press, hardback, 1950.
   • Leaves from a Psychist’s Case Book, by Harry Price, Victor Gollancz Ltd., hardback, 1933.

   See also

   • Borley Rectory
   • Gef the talking mongoose
   • Psychic Telephone
   • William Hope

   External links

   • Harry Price Website