Fifty Years of Psychical Research

Harry Price surveys the development of psychical research and spiritualism, beginning with the formation of organised investigation and the work associated with the Society for Psychical Research. He considers how researchers approached séances, mediums and claims of abnormal phenomena, while distinguishing spiritualism from the methods proposed for studying it.

The book brings together accounts of the Schneider brothers, Margery and Stella C., alongside discussions of mental mediums, extrasensory perception, telepathy and the mechanics of séances. Other chapters address alleged fire-walking mysteries, occult broadcasting, notable books and the proposed regulation of psychic practitioners. Price presents these reports as material for investigation, with attention to experimental procedure, deception and the difficulty of separating evidence from error.