Carlos S. Alvarado, PhD, Research Fellow, Parapsychology Foundation

The first version of the long awaited project of the Society for Psychical Research, their Psi Encyclopedia, has recently been released. The project is edited by Robert McLuhan, with whom I have been in contact during my writing of several entries for this exciting project.

The following statement appears in the Encyclopedia’s “About” webpage:

“There is now a vast research literature that validates the existence of psi as an anomalous, fleeting and little understood aspect of human experience. Psi researchers believe that it has been demonstrated many times over, and in a variety of contexts. But this remains controversial . . . a vocal minority of sceptics – often active in sceptic organisations – campaign in books, articles and in the media against psi research, disparaging it as ‘pseudoscience’ and disputing its conclusions.”

“In recent years this conflict has spread to the Internet, notably the free encyclopedia Wikipedia, where editors hostile to ‘fringe science’ routinely edit articles on psi research to make them conform to their view. As a result, articles that were originally written by knowledgeable experts have become adulterated with misleading claims and assertions.”

“The Psi Encyclopedia is being created by the Society for Psychical Research, funded by a bequest, to provide a more informative view of psi research (also referred to as ‘psychical research’ and ‘parapsychology’), one that reflects the findings of experimenters and investigators. The project began in 2014 and at its launch in September 2016 offered some 110 entries written by around thirty authors and experts. Readers are asked to bear in mind that this is a work in progress, a multi-year project that will see numerous additions, changes and improvements . . .”

“Types of entry include: overview articles about generic topics (e.g., experimental parapsychology, mediumship research, near-death experiences); articles that explore aspects of those topics, key researchers, etc.; case studies of key experiments and investigations (children who remembered a past life, poltergeist disturbances, mediumship episodes, etc); lists (people, events, experiments).”

“Some case studies include pdf versions of the original research report from which they are drawn, giving readers the opportunity to understand the researchers’ methods and reasoning in greater detail.”

Among the entries included in the Psi Encyclopedia the reader will find those about:

Altered States of Consciousness and Psi

Dr. David Luke

John Beloff

Dr. Melvyn Willin

Marthe Béraud (Eva C.)

Benjamin Seigmann

Creative Subjects in Ganzfeld

Dr. Hannah Jenkins

Distressing Near-Death Experience

Nancy Evans Bush

Dreams and ESP

David Saunders

Experimental Parapsychology (Overview)

Dr. Richard Broughton

Eyewitness Testimony (Analysis)

Dr. Stephen Braude

Forteana

Dr. Matthew Colborn

Frederic W.H. Myers

Trevor Hamilton

Uri Geller

Guy Lyon Playfair

Ghost Hunting

John Fraser

Edmund Gurney

Dr. Andreas Sommer

Koestler Parapsychology Unit

Dr. Caroline Watt

Meditation and Psi

Dr. Serena Roney-Dougal

Near-Death Experience

Dr. Penny Sartori

Past Lives Memories Research (Overview)

Dr. Jim Tucker

Psi Healing Research

Charmaine Sonnex

Religious Levitation

Dr. Michael Potts

Society for Psychical Research

Dr. Donald West

There is a list of contributors. In addition to those mentioned above, additional authors are: Dr. Carlos S. Alvarado, Mary Rose Barrington, Dr. Etzel Cardeña, Dr. Barrie Colvin, Callum Cooper, Dr. Guy Hayward, Jack Hunter, Patricia Pearson, Dr. Dean Radin, and Michael Tymn.

I have written a few entries for the encyclopaedia. Here are those that have been posted:

Charles Richet

Ernesto Bozzano

Eusapia Palladino

Out-of-body experience (OBE)

Richet’s Traité de Métapsychique (Thirty Years of Psychical Research)

Théodore Flournoy

William James

Not all relevant topics are covered in the current version of the work. In fact there are no entries for important topics as ESP, mediumship (mental and physical), and psychokinesis, nor about methodology. Similarly, there is a need for more entries about developments on non-English speaking countries and about modern developments. This includes topics such as the use of physiological processes to express ESP, investigations involving measures of geomagnetism and siderial time, and the use of meta-analysis. The same may be said about entries about modern researchers known for the development of important lines of research, among them Daryl Bem, Charles Honorton, William G. Roll, Helmut Schmidt, and Ian Stevenson. But bear in mind that the editor is well aware of this and that, as stated above, this is work in progress. Eventually such topics, and many others, will be covered.

Perhaps future editions of this work will include more illustrations. Two excellent examples to follow are the use of photographs in the entries “Anthropology and Psi Research,” by Jack Hunter, and “Eminent People Interested in Psi,” by Etzel Cardeña. However, not all the entries lend themselves to be easily illustrated.

This is a good beginning for this important project. Robert McLuhan has done good work, and an immense amount of it at that. I have found him to be very helpful and easy to work with regarding the entries I have prepared. His efforts would be facilitated if the Psi Encyclopedia counted with an editorial board that would assist him to select future writers, topics, and would also be involved in evaluating the content of the entries.