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Weird Wednesday…With Chris Laursen
01/03/07
Weird Wednesday…With Chris Laursen
Chris Laursen is a historian researching how people have related to the paranormal. This week, he asks you to offer your ideas on what the pivotal moments were in the history of the paranormal.
What pieces of the paranormal puzzle are most important?
by Chris Laursen
Happy New Year, everyone! I wish each and every one of you wonderful things in this coming year. Personally, I’m very excited about it. For me, it marks returning to university to prepare for graduate school. As many of you know, I am a budding historian and am researching the social history of the paranormal (that is, how people have related to the paranormal over time). I am working towards becoming a university professor, both researching and teaching about this history topic (along with other things).
I’d like to start the new year right and poll what you, our loyal readers, think are key in the history of the paranormal, particularly related to ghostly phenomenon and the afterlife.
What do you personally think was the most important moment or advancement in the history of the paranormal?
Your answer can take many different forms. You can name a person who you think was integral in advancing paranormal research. It can be a specific type of paranormal activity that you feel should be mentioning in a historical overview. It can be a specific case. It can be something that is neglected in the study of things paranormal.
Who knows… your suggestion may one day be incorporated into my own historical research and lecturing on this topic. It may also spark some good discussion here!
For the sake of naming some main topics that would certainly be included…
- In general, changing ideas of ghosts and the afterlife through history
- Spiritualist movement, theosophy and mediumship
- Research bodies such as the Society for Psychical Research, the American Society for Psychical Research and the Ghost Club
- Charles Fort and Fortean studies
- J. B. Rhine and the field of parapsychology (including psychical experimentation)
- poltergeists and recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis (RSPK)
- near-death experiences
- popular culture’s relationship with the paranormal (storytelling, literature, TV/film, urban legends)
I look forward to your suggestions!
10 comments
One person stands out in mind and that is Harry Price. He had a lot of titles: ghost hunter, magician, inventor. He used his magic skills to debunk fraudulent psychics. He established the National Laboratory of Psychical Research.I believe he was most famous for his investigation of the Borley Rectory. I think he is one of the people who gave ghost research a place in the public eye.
I'd say series like The X Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and even Sabrina encouraged interest in all things occult, paranormal, unexplained. They certainly stimulated and provoked my interest. x 
Chris -> How about the TSPR and the Phillip experiments. I've finally located the film! 
Have you found the film?! *FAINTS* Wowsers, can I come over? I'll bring popcorn and treats! I would say the Phillip Experiments are an essential part of paranormal history - anyone who hasn't read "Conjuring Up Phillip" really should - it's a great account of the collective psychic creation of a ghost/poltergeist personality.Harry Price is a definite must in the history of the paranormal, Andrea. I completely agree. What a character!
Andy, one of the things my professor in the history of the witch hunts did was play clips from popular films and TV shows (Buffy, the Exorcist, the Crucible, even Monty Python) to demonstrate pop culture's relationship to historical events; I think I would do the same. There have been waves in entertainment that parallel piqued interest in the paranormal, and I agree that it would be important to make those connections. Also, entertainment often plant often incorrect pre-conceptions in people's minds about what the paranormal is.
Thanks for the comments thus far - look forward to more!
Chris
Paranormal in response to world events. Is there an upswing in activity or changes in people's reactions to it during and after major wars? And do all parts of the world experience the same correlation? Interesting comment, Kindra. I think you would find some correlation, though I personally have not heard of any examples beyond WWI and the rise of mediums (many of which, unfortunately, were frauds capitalizing on people's grief after they'd lost a loved one in the war). Has anyone heard of similar paranormal events after other major wars? I would think that death bed visions, after-death visitations and so forth would increase in any situation where larger amounts of people were dying, such as plagues, civil strife, natural disasters, etc. I certainly heard anecdotes of ghosts after the 2005 tsunami in south Asia. Sounds like a good research topic. Thanks for those ideas!Chris
Hmmm good question. Tough question to answer. I'd also have to say the Phillip experiments. It brought new insights to the very idea of consciousness.
I would say that the inability of organised religions to meet the needs of an ever changing and increasingly educated world - they no longer have the answers so people are looking elsewhere for them. People are becoming more open minded in their search for answers, that means that formerly taboo areas are now not so taboo, and that paranormal phenomena are now considered possible instead of impossible. Fascinating spin on it, Ms. Demmie. I hadn't thought of that! I will consider those points in my historical research.Chris
Great comments everyone. I would really like to see the film of the Phillip experiments!I can't remember where I read (years ago) a social comment about the turn of the centuries. It stated that the end of the 19th century brought out the "end is nie" people and a rash of paranormal if not parlour game interests. It predicted accurately, similar for the turn of the 20th.
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The entries found on this blog are based on the thoughts and discussion of Matthew Didier and Sue Demeter-St.Clair...two paranormal investigators/researchers based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada who just also happen to be a couple.
We are founding members of The Ghosts and Hauntings Research Societies, PSICAN, and Pararesearchers of Ontario and are members and supporters of The Society of Psychical Research, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences
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