At long last, I just uploaded the second part of “Poltergeist Phenomena and the History of Science” to our Youtube channel. After part one was concerned with early modern responses to “things that go bump in the night” by Robert Boyle and colleagues at the Royal Society, and looked at the decline of empirical approaches to these phenomena during the Enlightenment, the second instalment traces hidden continuities of scientific interest in poltergeist-style phenomena in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Here we go:
If you enjoyed the video, please remember to give it a “like” on Youtube, subscribe to our channel, and of course share the video with friends and colleagues who might appreciate it. (All this will influence Youtube’s algorithm into suggesting the channel to new viewers, which is vital to grow it.)
The concluding part 3 is already in the making – if all goes well, I will upload it within the next seven days or so.
Recommended key text:
Gauld, Alan, & Cornell, A. D. (1979). Poltergeists. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; paperback reprint: White Crow Books, 2018.
Buy on Amazon
(Disclaimer: we earn small commissions through qualifying purchases made via affiliate links – at no extra cost for you.)
Used Sources:
Addison, Joseph. (1751). The Drummer; or, The Haunted House. A Comedy. London: Tonson and Draper (first published in 1716) [Search on Abebooks].
Bender, Hans (1968). “Der Rosenheimer Spuk – ein Fall spontaner Psychokinese.“ Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, 11, 104-112.
Bleuler, Eugen (1930). “Vom Okkultismus und seinen Kritiken.“ Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie, 5, 654-680.
Carnap, Rudolf (1993). Mein Weg in die Philosophie. Stuttgart: Reclam (first published in 1963) [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
du Prel, Carl (1888). Die monistische Seelenlehre. Ein Beitrag zur Lösung des Menschenrätsels. Leipzig: Ernst Günther [Search on Abebooks].
Enz, Charles P. (2002). No Time to be Brief: A Scientific Biography of Wolfgang Pauli. New York: Oxford University Press [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Flammarion, Camille (1923). Les maisons hantées. Paris: Ernest Flammarion [Search on Abebooks].
Gauld, Alan, & Cornell, A. D. (1979). Poltergeists. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; paperback reprint: White Crow Books, 2018 [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Glanvill, Joseph. (1681). Saducismus Triumphatus: Or, Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions (third ed.). London: J. Collins and S. Lownds [Search on Abebooks].
Hunter, Michael. (2020). The Decline of Magic: Britain in the Enlightenment. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Jung, Carl Gustav (1950). “Vorrede.” In Fanny Moser, Spuk. Irrglaube oder Wahrglaube? Eine Frage der Menschheit (pp. 9-12). Baden: Gyr [Search on Abebooks].
Kiesewetter, Carl (1890). “Klopfgeister vor dem Jahre 1848.” Sphinx, 10, 224-232.
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim (1827). “Hamburgische Dramaturgie. Erster Theil. Elftes Stück.” In Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s sämmtliche Schriften (Vol. 24, pp. 82-88). Berlin: Vossische Buchhandlung (first published in 1767) [Search on Abebooks].
Meier, C. A. (Ed.). (2001). Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932-1958. Princeton: Princeton University Press [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Myers, Frederic W. H. (1889). “On recognised apparitions occurring more than a year after death.” Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 6, 13-65.
Park, T. Peter. (2019). “The Vienna Circle and the paranormal.” EdgeScience (no. 38, June), 13-20.
Perrault, François (1658). The Devil of Mascon. Or, A true Relation of the Chiefe Things which an Uncleane Spirit did, and said at Mascon in Burgundy, in the House of Mr Francis Pereaud, Minister of the Reformed Church in the same Towne. Oxford: Hen, Hall, Rich & Davis (originally published in 1653) [Search on Abebooks].
Porter, Roy (1999). “Witchcraft and magic in Enlightenment, Romantic and liberal thought.” In B. Ankarloo & S. Clark (Eds.), Witchcraft and Magic in Europe. The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (pp. 191-282). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Schrenck-Notzing, Albert von (1928). “Richtlinien zur Beurteilung medialer Spukvorgänge.” Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie, 3, 513-521.
Shapin, Steven, & Schaffer, Simon (1985). Leviathan and the Air-Pump. Hobbes, Boyle and the Experimental Life. Princeton: Princeton University Press [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Winterstein, Alfred von (1926). “Psychoanalytische Bemerkungen zum Thema Spuk.” Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie, 1, 548-553.
I’ve got that same book on the Fox sisters that you have in the background. I remember looking to buy the Gauld/Cornell book years ago and it was very expensive. I ended up getting the William Roll book, the Colin Wilson book (which was very good), the Guy Lyon Playfair book on Enfield, the book on the Philip experiment, the Matthew Manning book The Link, and a few others. Had them delivered to my parent’s house instead of mine and picked them up later that day. When I showed my Dad the books he scoffed. He would always make fun of my interest in the paranormal. Anyway, stayed up late, past 3 am, reading the book on Enfield. The next morning I got an email from my Dad half-jokingly telling me to stop reading those books. When I spoke to him later he said he and my Mom were awakened by what sounded like a gunshot in their bedroom. They noticed a framed picture that had been on the wall for years was lying face down on the floor close to their bed. It had moved several feet from the wall as if it had been picked up and slammed to the floor- he said the noise was reminiscent of a gunshot it was so loud. And yet the glass was not broken. They then noticed a light coming from my Mom’s home office. Somehow the computer in her office had turned on. I had one other odd experience while reading a book- this time as a child, around 12 years old. It was around 7 pm during the summer, so it was still light outside. I was the only one in the house and was reading The Exorcist and was scared. I should preface this by saying I had developed a bit of OCD as a kid- I would feel compelled to do things like repeatedly touch a doorknob a certain way for reassurance. So anyway, in an effort to find the book less unnerving I told myself, “If I place this book on the bed and nothing happens then it’s just a work of fiction”, fully expecting nothing to happen. Therefore I would be less frightened. The second that book hit the bed all the power in the house went out. Bedroom and hall lights went out, I heard the fridge shut down, etc. I was absolutely stunned and called out to my dog to come get in the bed with me. I then put the sheets over my head and waited for my parents to come home. LOL It was clear, no storms that could have knocked out the power, and it wasn’t like the power was regularly going out. When my parents got home they said the power had gone out in the restaurant they were in as well, which was a few miles from our house. Such an odd experience and tough to make sense of. Don’t know if it was a precognitive experience or what.