The science of Parapsychology and the inferences therein seem to touch upon thoughts within the human psyche that are greater than ourselves, things found within our deepest primordial beliefs – how we perceive life and death. The very nature of the ideas that we are currently researching are deeply rooted in the conscious and subconscious mind and have strong connections to the ego, or “self” as well. It has been during our modern era that we have found – to quote a popular automotive insurance commercial that features a couple of cavemen – “We are living in an era where individual ego has come to the fore. Comments?”

            Yeah, I’ve got a few. All too often we see skeptics tearing apart some sort of evidence found on paranormal investigations or someone somewhere is debunking this or that but it is not completely the fault of the skeptic for doing what it is that they do – as paranormal researchers we are partially to blame as well. How is that? Between television crocumentaries on paranormal “investigations,” inter-organization rivalries and the holding of information hostage as a proprietary resource for whatever group “makes the find” we have shot ourselves in the foot. This selfish and self-important attitude, thankfully, has not always been the dominant mindset among Parapsychologists. Since the very inception of the field of Parapsychology, as far back as 1882, scientists from different disciplines of academia gathered, spoke, and freely shared their findings with each other in order to advance the field as a whole not just to push their own agenda of fame, fortune and self importance. Let’s have a brief look at some of their work:   

1882 – The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is founded in England by Henry Sedgwick and F. W. H. Meyers.     

1885 – From 1885 to 1887 Balfour Stewart (1827 – 1887) occupied the presidential seat of the Society for Psychical Research. He co-authored “The Unseen Universe” which created quite a controversy as it was one of the first scientific manuscripts to diametrically oppose the view of the commonly accepted physically manifested understanding of the universe in order to propagate the idea of a spiritual one.

1889 – A. W. Verrall (1859 – 1918) joins the SPR. She wrote several important documents pertaining to the proceedings of the SPR. 

1894 - British Prime Minister from 1902 – 1905, Lord Arthur Balfour (1848 – 1930) took an interest in the question of survival after death in when his sister married Henry Sidgwick, first president of the SPR. In 1894 Lord Arthur Balfour was elected to the presidential chair of the SPR.

            Additionally in 1894 William James (1842 – 1910) was elected to the position of president of the SPR. James received his MD from Harvard University in 1869. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University and later taught physiology and philosophy there. William James was one of the original founders of the American

Society of Psychical Research (ASPR), was vice president of the SPR from 1890 – 1893. He was again elected as vice president to the SPR from 1896 – 1910 and was president of the SPR from 1894 – 1895.

1900 – Hereward Carrington joined the SPR at the age of 19 and from that point devoted his life to the study of psychical research. He received a doctorate and became an assistant to Dr. James Hyslop who was one of the founding leaders of the ASPR.

Carrington wrote a number of articles and papers on a vast array of subjects concerning Spiritualism.

1920s – A professor of Psychology at Harvard University, William McDougall had authored “Body and Mind and Social Psychology.” He became president of the SPR for the years of 1920 & 1921 and was elected president of the ASPR in 1921 as well.

            Thomas Edison tried to invent a machine that would communicate with the dead.

Thinking this was possible, Edison wrote: “If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, other faculties, and knowledge that we acquire on this Earth. Therefore, if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something.”

1930s: Attila von Szalay, an American photographer, experimented with a phonograph record cutter in trying to capture spirit voices. He claimed that he achieved some success with this method and got even better results in later years using a wire recorder. In the late 1950s, the results of his experiments were documented in an article for the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR).

1940s: In the late 1940s, Marcello Bacci of Grosseto, Italy claimed to be able to pick up voices of the deceased on a vacuum tube radio – the beginning of “white noise” experimentation and recordings.

1950s:  Friedrich Juergenson, a Swedish film producer, was recording bird songs outdoors near his home. When he played the tape back, he could discern his mother's voice saying in German, “Friedrich, you are being watched. Friedel, my little Friedel, can you hear me?” His subsequent recording of hundreds of such voices would earn him the title of “the father of EVP.” From his experiences he went on to write two books on the subject of EVP: “Voices from the Universe” and “Radio Contact with the Dead.”

1960s: Juergenson's work came to the attention of a Latvian psychologist named Dr. Konstantin Raudive (ref. Chapter 1, Modern Parapsychology). At first Raudive was skeptical. He began his own EVP experiments in 1967 and he too recorded the voice of his deceased mother saying, “Kostulit, this is your mother.” Kostulit was the boyhood name his mother had always called him. During his EVP research Dr. Raudive recorded thousands of EVP voices.

1970s: The Stone Tape Theory is introduced one of the most prolific and ground breaking theories to date in the field of parapsychology.  

1980’s:  Klaus Schreiber discovers the ITC Positive Regeneration Feedback Technique, thusly allowing EVP researchers to both hear EVP phenomenon AND see the source from which it purportedly originates. 

2002: Brian Schill proposes the Iron Oxide Enigma. The theory, in its conceptual form, states that any ferrous metal that can be magnetized can hold a bioelectric charge for an indefinite amount of time – thusly, in a sense, “recording” bioelectric energies much like a video tape recorder. What this theory is inferring is that ANY place or thing that has a small mass of ferrous metal in or around it (iron deposits, nails, structural fastening devices, structural support members, rust, etc.) can be “record” paranormal energies that can be released at a later time.  

     From this list it is easy to see that it is imperative that we, as researchers, take all available opportunities to reverse the trend of individual and inter-organization rivalries. We must place all of the pieces of the puzzle on the table, so to speak, and even if they all do not fit we will – at a minimum – have the ability to sort out the ones that don’t until we have a complete picture of what lies ahead for all of us. 

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