founding in England in 1882 of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). The goal of the SPR was scientific investigation of spiritualistic and other “psychic” phenomena. As such, it represented an alliance between the spiritualists and the small portion of the scientific community that accepted their claims. As time passed, however, the alliance weakened and finally split. The split came about not because of doubt on the part of the scientists who belonged to the SPR, but because of a fundamental difference with spiritualists over the correct interpretation of the phenomena that took place at seances (Cerello 1982).
The spiritualists felt that these phenomena proved the existence of an afterlife and the reality of the individual soul, and demonstrated that they were in communication with the dead. For the spiritualists, these claims did not have any particular religious implications and hence spiritualists were attacked as vehemently by organized religion as by organized science, perhaps more so. Their claims, however, were still too non-materialistic for many of the scientists in the SPR. As Cerello (1982) points out in his excellent history of the development of psychical research in Britain during this period, the SPR came more and more to interpret spiritualistic phenomena in terms of telepathy (what would now be termed ESP) and psychokinesis (PK). Thus, if a medium told someone at a seance something that medium could not have known through normal channels, she (most mediums were female) was not getting the information from the spirits of the dead, but rather through her own power of ESP. Similarly, when an object was apported during a seance, it was not being transported from the “other side” by spirits, but was being moved by the medium through PK. This latter explanation for spiritualistic phenomena prevailed in the SPR, and is still accepted in parapsychological research to this day. Thus, these phenomena constitute the first pieces of evidence for the reality of paranormal claims. It is the nature of this evidence that will be considered here.
The debate over the validity of spiritualistic phenomena, however they were interpreted, raged well into the early twentieth century. Some of the most famous names in science, literature, and the arts were involved, including Michael Faraday, the discoverer of electromagnetism; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and magician Harry Houdini. Brandon (1983) has written an excellent account of the history of spiritualism and the debate surrounding it. (Modern spiritualists, who still exist and who still claim to be in communication with the dead, will be considered later in this book.) Much of the material in the following sections is drawn from Ray Hyman’s (1985a) “A Critical Historical Overview of Parapsychology.”
Probably the most famous scientist to become involved in the investigation of spiritualistic phenomena was Michael Faraday. Faraday investigated table moving, which was frequently observed at seances. The table at which the seance was held, and on which the sitters rested their hands, would move about, seemingly under its own power. When the seance was conducted by a professional medium, it was easy to attribute the movement to conscious shoving of the table by the medium—one of many types of cheating practiced by mediums. What made table movement so convincing and fascinating, however, was that it commonly took place at informal, private seances where only a group of friends was in attendance and cheating could usually be ruled out. It was even possible for a single individual to sit at a table and have it move about—yet the individual would swear that no conscious attempt had been made to move the table. The key word here is “conscious.” Through several ingenious experiments, Faraday (1853, cited in Hyman, 1985a) demonstrated that the movement of the table was due to consciously imperceptible muscle exertions on the part of sitters. After satisfying himself that the table movements were not due to any type of electromagnetic forces, Faraday constructed special tables that would reveal unconscious muscle exertions. Hyman (1985a) describes one such experiment, in which Faraday
placed four or five pieces of slippery cardboard, one over the other, on the table top. The pieces were attached to one another by little pellets of a soft cement. The lowest piece was attached to a piece of sandpaper that rested on the table top. The edges of the sheets overlapped slightly, and on the undersurface Faraday drew a pencil line to indicate the position. The table turner then placed his hands upon the upper card and waited for the table to move in the previously agreed upon direction (to the left). (p. 10)
When the sheets of cardboard were examined after the table movement, it was found that the top sheet had moved to the left relative to the sheets under it. This indicated that the movement was caused by the hands pushing on the table. If the table had moved to the left of its own accord, the top sheet would have moved to the
Unconscious muscle movements are also responsible for another spiritualistic phenomenon, the Ouija board. This is a board marked with the letters of the alphabet and special “yes” and “no” locations. Users put their hands on a planchette that is supposedly guided by the spirits around the board to spell out answers to questions. In fact, the planchette is guided by unconscious muscular exertions like those responsible for table movement. Nonetheless, in both cases, the illusion that the object (table or planchette) is moving under its own control is often extremely powerful and sufficient to convince many people that spirits are truly at work. Such unconscious muscular movements are also responsible for dowsing (water witching), as explained in chapter 13.
The unconscious muscle movements responsible for the moving tables and Ouija board phenomena seen at seances are examples of a class of phenomena due to what psychologists call a
Many, probably the vast majority, of mediums were out-and-out frauds who faked everything associated with their seances, including the trances they entered to contact the spirits of the dead. Some mediums however, experienced what appeared to be genuine trances. The medium was actually in a psychological condition known as a dissociative state. Other “personalities” emerge and take control of the medium’s body. These other personalities are interpreted, by both the medium and the sitters at the seance, as genuine manifestations of spirit control. Viewing a medium in a genuine trance state is compelling. The medium’s voice may change dramatically as different “spirits” take control. The medium’s facial expression may also change. It is obvious that something is happening in such situations. The important question as far as paranormal claims are concerned is whether whatever is going on provides evidence for the paranormal. The answer is no. Mediums who experienced genuine dissociative trance states were no better able to provide valid proof of their contact with the dead than were other mediums. If the true dissociative state did put the medium into contact with the dead, one would expect the spirits of the dead to be able to provide evidence of their identity. While the spirits often claimed to be famous people, they were unable to provide evidence to support such claims.
The case of one famous medium clearly shows the close association between the dissociative state found in the psychiatric disorder of split personality and that found in the mediumistic trance. This is the case of Helene Smith, a French medium who was active near the turn of the century. Smith had numerous spirit guides who took over her body while she was in a trance. One of her most famous guides was the “spirit” of someone who could not possibly have existed. For a considerable period, she was said to be under the control of the spirit of a dead Martian. When this Martian was in control, she would speak and write in “Martian” and produce drawings of Martian landscapes. Floumoy (1900/1994) discusses the case at length and reproduces several of Smith’s drawings of Martian landscapes and buildings as well as examples of her Martian writing.
The Helene Smith case illustrates two important points. First, there is a striking similarity between the behavior of a medium in a true trance state and the individual with multiple personalities. In the latter, more than one personality is found in the same body. One personality will be in control at one time, while another personality will emerge to take control at other times. There may be several different personalities that may be strikingly different in their moods, temperaments, and interests. Some of the personalities may not be aware of the others, while some will be aware that others exist. Individuals suffering from this disorder do not have to go into a trance for the different personalities to emerge.
The second point illustrated by the Smith case is that other manifestations of the dissociative state exist than simply speaking as if a different personality is in control. Smith also wrote while in her trances, allegedly under the guidance of the spirit control. This is known as automatic writing; it can be produced by some individuals who are not in a trance state. The arm, in such individuals, seems to write “on its own” and it is easy to understand how the feeling could develop that the arm was “possessed,” perhaps by a spirit of the dead. In fact, automatic writing
