Leo Ruickbie Steps Down as Editor of the Magazine for the Society for Psychical Research It is the end, my friends. After nine years at the helm, I am steppingdown as editor of our Magazine. It has been a wonderful nine years,but not without its lows as well as highs. Since the first terrifyingmoment I…
Author: Leo Ruickbie
The Best Evidence
One of the best things about editing this magazine is getting toshoot the cover image and the abstract simplicity of this issue’scover is one of my favourite images. Typically, though, a pictureis not worth a thousand words. Pictures and words do quite differentthings. Imagine the Bible as a set of postcards from the Patriarchs, withsome…
Now with ACIQ and ARPS
In recognition of his achievements in photography, Dr Leo Ruickbie has been awarded Accredited in the Creative Industries Qualification (ACIQ) and Associate of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS).
Lucky Charms in the First World War
Leo Ruickbie’s chapter ‘Lucky Charms in the First World War – Industrialized Magic’ is published in Katharina Rein’s anthology Magic: A Companion (Peter Lang, 2022).
Are Robots Haunted by Electric Ghosts?
Technology can already bring back the appearance of the dead, but as machine learning and quantum computing push the boundaries of the possible, will Web 3.0 create Heaven 2.0?
The First World War and the Paranormal
Dr Leo Ruickbie’s research project on the First World War and the paranormal resulted in 9 articles, 4 conference presentations, a website and a book, Angels in the Trenches.
On the Jury of the Fortean Film Festival
Leo Ruickbie Joins Judging Panel for the Fortean Film Festival This year’s Fortean Film Festival has seen a record number of entries with 162 logged so far and I’ll be joining a fantastic panel of experts to judge them. The festival features a wide range of categories and multiple opportunities for recognition. Judging will take…
Life After Death in the Express
Major UK Newspaper Interviews Dr Leo Ruickbie About His Bigelow Contest Win With the headline ‘It’s the real million-dollar question: Is there life after death?‘, the Daily Express devoted a double-page spread to my contest-winning essay on life after death. Journalist Jane Warren chose to feature my favourite case from my essay ‘The Ghost in…
Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Leo Ruickbie is Elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland At a meeting on 3 March 2022, the Council of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland elected its new Fellows and I was honoured to be included among them. Founded in 1871, the RAI is the…
Canberra Times Ponders Life After Death
Bigelow Contest Features in Australian Newspaper The Canberra Times has published an article by Jane Goodall on the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies essay contest on the best evidence for life after death. Launched last year, the contest drew 1,300 hopefuls to apply to take part, with just one in six passing the rigorous requirements….
Secrets of the Raven Master
Following the disapearance of Merlina, Dr Leo Ruickbie interviewed Yeoman Warder Chris Skaife, the Tower of London’s Raven Master.
Bigelow Contest Awards in Las Vegas
Winners and runners-up in the Bigelow Essay Contest gathered in Las Vegas for an award ceremony at Bigelow Aerospace. Robert Bigelow, the founder of the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS), and Colm Kelleher, its Director, handed out prizes totalling $1.8 million in front of a large audience on Saturday, 4 December 2021. Dr Jeffrey…
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Leo Ruickbie is Elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society At a meeting on 26 November 2021, the Council of the Royal Historical Society elected 95 Fellows, myself among them. Founded 1868, the RHS is a British learned society promoting historical research based at University College London. It is a great honour to join…
CFP: Supernatural Cities
Call for Papers: Revenant Special Edition on Supernatural Cities with guest editors Alicia Edwards (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Dr Rachael Ironside (Robert Gordon University). Gothic and Dark Tourism are burgeoning fields of academic study but scholarship on their intersection with the urban supernatural, even in the field of Gothic studies, remains limited. The supernatural is…
Bigelow Contest Winners Announced
The Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies has announced the prize winners for its contest to find the best evidence for life after death. And three people have found it. I had known for five days that I would get a phone call on Monday the 1st of November, the day of the announcement – five…
The $1,500,000 Question: Is There Life After Death?
Shook up the world of psychical research At the beginning of 2021, an American businessman shook up the world of psychical research by unexpectedly announcing an essay competition to present the best evidence for proof of life after death. Robert T. Bigelow, property developer and aerospace entrepreneur, offered $1.5 million in prize money to try…
Interview with Robert Bigelow
US Billionaire puts up $1.5 million in prize money for the best essay on ‘life after death’ It had been snowing in Las Vegas – something so rare that people were taking photographs of it – and Robert Bigelow had been delayed by the weather. John Waite’s 1984 No. 1 hit ‘Missing You’ played over…
Elves, Erlendur
Tribute Issue to Erlendur Haraldsson Bringing the Paranormal Review to an end seemed the sensible thing to do, after all, I always had to preface it as ‘the magazine of the Society for Psychical Research’. The simplest thing, then, was just to call it that. And now, along with the Journal of the SPR and…