The third and final video in our series on poltergeist phenomena and hauntings in the history of science (and this time also medicine) has just gone live. This episode is on the longer side, as we will dwell quite a bit on twentieth-century continental Europe.
Once again, you are going to encounter several figures not usually associated with “things that go bump in the night” – including but not limited to positivist philosopher Hans Hahn of the legendary Vienna Circle of Logical Empiricism, psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (the inventor of the word “schizophrenia”), and physics Nobel Prize winner Wolfgang Pauli.
Enjoy:
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The next episode will take us back to the Scientific Revolution. Looking at one of its prime figureheads, Francis Bacon, we will address the role which magic played in his work, which is often assumed to constitute the first modern formulation of a philosophy of science.
Recommended key text:
Gauld, Alan, & Cornell, A. D. (1979). Poltergeists. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; paperback reprint: White Crow Books, 2018.
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Sources & Recommended Readings:
Bleuler, Eugen (1930). “Vom Okkultismus und seinen Kritiken.“ Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie, 5, 654-680.
Brancaccio, Maria Teresa. (2014). “Enrico Morselli’s Psychology of ‘Spiritism’: Psychiatry, psychology and psychical research in Italy around 1900.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 48, 75-84.
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].
Hahn, Hans, Hoffmann, Richard, Thirring, Hans, Wolf, Karl, Winterstein, Alfred von, & Dumba, Michael. (1927). “Die Phänomene der Eleonore Zugun. Wiener Gelehrte für Gräfin Zoe Wassilko.” Neue Freie Presse (no. 22433, 27 February), p. 14.
Hess, Karolina Maria. (2018). “The idea of ideoplasty and occult phenomena in the theoretical and empirical research of Julian Ochorowicz.” Preternature, 7, 239-274.
Jung, Carl Gustav & Pauli, Wolfgang (2012). The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche. Mountain View, CA: Ishi Press (original German ed. 1952) [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Meier, C. A. (Ed.) (2014). Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932-1958 (updated ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Moser, Fanny. (1950). Spuk. Irrglaube oder Wahrglaube? Eine Frage der Menschheit. Baden: Gyr-Verlag [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Mulacz, Peter. (2017). Der „Wiener Kreis“ und die Parapsychologie. Mensch • Wissenschaft • Magie. Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 33, 141-179.
Park, T. Peter. (2019). “The Vienna Circle and the paranormal.” EdgeScience (no. 38, June), 13-20.
Richet, Charles. (1923). Thirty Years of Psychical Research. Being a Treatise on Metapsychics (S. De Brath, Trans.). New York: Macmillan [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Schrenck-Notzing, Albert von (1928). “Richtlinien zur Beurteilung medialer Spukvorgänge.” Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie, 3, 513-521.
Wassilko-Serecki, Zoe. (1926). “Meine Erlebnisse mit Eleonore Zugun.” Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie, 1, 76-82.
Wassilko-Serecki, Zoe. (1927). “Beobachtungen an Eleonore Zugun.” Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie, 2, 65-80.
Westman, Robert S. (1984). “Nature, art, and psyche: Jung, Pauli, and the Kepler-Fludd polemic.” In Brian Vickers (Ed.), Occult and Scientific Mentalities in the Renaissance (pp. 177-229). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [Buy on Amazon] [Search on Abebooks].
Winterstein, Alfred. (1926). “Zur Psychoanalyse des Spuks.” Imago, 12, 434-447.
Winterstein, Alfred. (1930). “Le médium Frieda Weissl.” In Theodore Besterman (Ed.), Transactions of the Fourth International Congress for Psychical Research, Athens 1930 (pp. 54-62). London: Society for Psychical Research.
Again a nice video, Andreas!
A few miscellaneous remarks:
* Eleonore Zugun’s phenomena: there is a clear distinction between two phases, the fist one (in her native Romania and during the early time in Vienna) charcterised by telekineses (aka makro-psychokineses) and apports, whereas only during the later stage the skin phenomena you mentioned (bits, scratches, saliva, etc.) came to the foreground
* Moritz Schlick: he was appointed head of a university committee to investigate mediumistic phenomena; however, the committee didn’t really get off the ground and dissolved after a few months. His attitude towards the phenomena in question was either neutral or benevolent-neutral; he did not show any active engagement.
BTW, there is a biography on Hahn in preparation.
* Hans Hahn and Hans Thirring: both were extremely interested in mediumistic phenomena and actively engaged in their investigations.
– Hans Thirring’s fokus was on physical phenomena. Most of his experiments took place in the institute he was chair of (Inst. for Theoretical Physics of Vienna University)
– Hans Hahn’s interest was definitely broader, he was also interested in mental phenomena, and in the psychological aspects displayed by various mediums. As far as the investigation of the Zugun phenomena is concerned, he did not see the girl very often nor did he engage in very many sittings, nonetheless he was the person who (besides the Countess herself) witnessed the by far largest number of single phenomena (most of them apports). It has been sheer luck to be at the right time at the right place …
* Alfred, Baron Winterstein: not only was he a prominent psychoanalyst (BTW one of only two who remained in Vienna during the dark years of Nazi occupation), he was also a leading member of the Austrian Society for Psychical Research (ASPR)
* Finally, on the foundation and the early years of the ASPR: the driving force behind the establishment of said Society was Zoe, Countess Wassilko-Serecki; her Zugun study circle has been the nucleus of the ASPR. Countess Wassilko served the Society for 38 years in the capacity of their SecGen. Follwing the example of the 50 years senior SPR the appointments of President and VP were rotated among the seniour members, i.e., while Thirring was the first President at the time of the establishment of the Society (Dec 2nd, 1927), also Hahn and Winterstein had their turn of presidency during the following years.
For more information see
* https://parapsychologie.info/history.htm
* Also the article
Mulacz, Peter. (2017). Der „Wiener Kreis“ und die Parapsychologie. Mensch • Wissenschaft • Magie.
Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 33, 141-179.
you kindly quoted is available on-line:
https://www.academia.edu/attachments/57953727/download_file?st=MTYxMjkyNDQzMCw4MC4xMDkuMjUxLjIsMjE0NDc3&st=MTYxMjkyNDQzMCw4MC4xMDkuMjUxLjIsMjE0NDc3&s=profile
(in German)
Many thanks for these great additions, Peter! I thought I mentioned Winterstein was also a member of the Austrian SPR, but it seems I really didn’t.