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…
Category: Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research
The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research is the members’ magazine of the Society for Psychical Research. Previously called the Paranormal Review and before that the Psi Researcher, the magazine was launched in 1981 and is currently edited by Dr Leo Ruickbie, FRHistS, FRAI.
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…
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…
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…
26 Reasons Why the Evidence Has Been Ignored or Rejected
The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, 1 (2021) The global pandemic has re-focused attention on the ultimate questions. The new year has crept slowly out of its hole, only to be greeted with more of the same. A raven has forsaken the Tower of London prompting suspicions that the old prophecy is fulfilling…
Paranormal Review 96
Parapsychology in the Far East The Paranormal Review has been more than a magazine for me, it has been a journey through all that is going on in the world of psychical research. And so, the magazine itself has been something like a documentary project. It can never be a pure documentation because I am…
Paranormal Review 95
Star Gate (2): The US Government Programme on Psi Research, Part 2: Operational Psi With a letter from Tom Butler on the future of the SPR, I am delighted to see that the questions raised in my editorial for PR92 are still stimulating discussion. But as the debate continues, I see that the SPR suffers…
Paranormal Review 94
Star Gate (Part 1) In this issue, I am privileged to be able to bring you part one of a comprehensive overview of the US Government’s research programme on psi. From 1972 to 1995, various US militaries, agencies and departments contributed funding to a series of exotically codenamed projects, from Gondola Wish to Star Gate,…
Paranormal Review 93
Everyday Psi My children looked at this issue’s cover picture and asked ‘how do they do that?’ Still young enough not to be quite sure if it is a trick or real magic, they nevertheless see that it is extraordinary, if not impossible. This, in a sense, is how we often encounter the ‘paranormal’, in…
Paranormal Review 92
The Other Side I walk over the bridge pictured on the front of this issue almost every day and when, early in the morning, the ground mist rises on the other side, it obliterates the real world beyond and turns this simple wooden footbridge into something magical, like Bifröst bridging the worlds to Asgard. The…
Paranormal Review 91
The Roots of Reality This issue we turn to the problem of theory in parapsychology. Following a ‘Workshop on Psi Theories’ in Paris in 2019, SPR President Prof. Chris Roe addresses the question directly on pp. 4-5, with my report on the workshop on pp. 22-24. Dr Charles Whitehead takes the matter into his own…
Paranormal Review 89
The Paranormal Preservers PR89 is another ‘document or disappear’ issue, this time focusing on the Preserving the Historical Collections of the Paranormal (PHCP) conference that was held in Winnipeg, Canada, in May 2018. Following on from the first PHCP conference in Utrecht in 2014, this conference gave North American collectors, curators and experts the opportunity…
Paranormal Review 88
The SPR at War Following up on my new rallying cry of ‘document or disappear’, discussed in the last issue, I am publishing the results of my research into the Society for Psychical Research’s activities during the First World War. Having recently commemorated the Centenary of the Armistice, it is a fitting time to reflect…
Paranormal Review 87
Guy Lyon Playfair: His Life and Work It is always satisfying to do a retrospective of a great psychical researcher’s life and work, and Guy Lyon Playfair’s contributions to the field were many and of lasting importance, but it is a satisfaction tempered by sadness and an awareness of loss. Although I corresponded with Playfair,…
Paranormal Review 86
From C.D. Broad to the Palace of Versailles We were all saddened recently by the news of Guy Lyon Playfair’s death. The world of psychical research has surely lost one of its brighter lights. The Psi Society column this issue carries a brief obituary and it is hoped that a future issue of the magazine…
Paranormal Review 85
Back to the ‘Lilly’ Pond: Flotation Tank Experiments From historical re-evaluations and current experiments, this issue of the Paranormal Review brings a wide range of psychical research topics to your attention. The Society’s President, Prof. John Poynton, continues his philosopher-president series with a re-examination of Hans Driesch. Dr Peter Hewitt of the Museum of Witchcraft…
Paranormal Review 84
Photography, Art and the Representation of the Paranormal The lights dimmed, the audience were on the edges of their seats (or, at least, in their seats), except for the absence of a drum roll, everything was set for the announcement of the winner and runners-up of the Paranormal Review’s Photography Competition. The announcement was made…
The Winner
‘Ghost’ Takes 1st place I announced the winner and runners-up at the Society for Psychical Research’s 41st Annual Conference on Friday, 1st September. For those of you who were unable to attend, here are the results: 1st Place: ‘Ghost’ by Alan O’Regan 2nd Place: Untitled by Laverne Craven 3rd Place was tied between ‘Sotiria’ by…