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Copyright 1985 Guardian Publication, Ltd.
Manchester Guardian Weekly
May 5, 1985
SECTION: BOOKS; Pg. 22
LENGTH: 814 words
HEADLINE: Spooks classified;
THE PARANORMAL: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA, by Brian Inglis (Granada,
@12.95).
THE OTHER WORLD: SPIRITUALISM AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH IN ENGLAND 1850-1914, by
Janet Oppenheim (Cambridge, @25).
SORCERY, by Finley Hurley (Routledge, @14).
BYLINE: By Brian Bates
  BODY:
PARAPSYCHOLOGY has come of age. Ominously. The Soviet and American
governments are now investigating military applications of psychic powers and
the results are, of course, classified. So whatever became of table-rappers,
ghosts, poltergeists and dowsers strolling peacefully across the fields with
their forked sticks? The answer is that they are still very much with us, and
assume material form in the Brian Inglis's lively book The Paranormal.
Psychical researchers in this century have been holed up in laboratories like
white-coated moles, digging for scientific evidence for the paranormal with
which to convince the sceptics. But, Inglis argues, this sort of activity needs
to be complemented by a revival of traditional techniques which pay attention to
the naturally occurring experiences of ordinary men and women.
His book is packed with such examples, though some of the people he describes
are not very ordinary, for example the eighteenth century writer and mystic
Emanuel Swedenborg set out to demonstrate publicly his ability in
clairvoyance. At a reception in Gothenburg attended by local notables he
suddenly went into a trance and "saw and described the disastrous fire which was
sweeping Stockholm 300 miles away, relating the course it was taking in vivid
detail. When, later, a courier arrived from Stockholm it was found that the
course which the fire had taken exactly matched Swedenborg's running
commentary."
Sceptics, who have been known to go to considerable lengths to cast doubt on
even the most carefully controlled laboratory studies, would probably claim that
Swedenborg had an elite squad of trained psyromaniacs setting fires in a
predetermined sequence through the unfortunate city. But to be fair to the
sceptics (who are, by the way, in an ever diminishing minority . . . recent
polls show that two thirds of the populace in Europe and North America now
accept the existence of telepathy) there have been through the years many
individuals who have been discovered perpetrating ingenious tricks to support
fraudulent claims of psychic abilities.
Inglis has selected his material carefully, however, and while the examples
are left for the reader to evaluate, he maintains a balanced and sensible
commentary on the problems of evidence in this field. The book takes the form
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'A PAGE 30
Man~cjLest Guard'
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of an encyclopaedia with entries under nearly a hundred headings, including
reported experiences of telepathy, precognition, ghosts, metal-bending and
table-turning as well as some anomolous phenomena (UFOs, psychic surgery) often
excluded from such collections.
For Inglis the sheer volume of accounts constitutes evidence of a kind, and
the richness of the material in this book at least argues for the reintroduction
of naturally occurring phenomena as a central concern in parapsychology. While
it is unlikely that anecdotal accounts alone would carry weight as evidence,
there is surely a case for the development of new techniques of observation,
documentation and reporting . . . a kind of rescue archaeology of psychic
experience. Brian Inglis's book as a good starting point.
Disenchantment with the prevailing orthodoxy has fuelled many a revolution in
religion and science, as well as in politics. In The other World historian
Janet Oppenheim explores the Victorian fascination with Spiritualism. She
explains that a turning away from the more severe and penitential aspects of the
Christian church left a spiritual vacuum in the second half of the nineteenth
century, which was made the more acute by the apparent rising tide of scientific
materialism.
Spiritualism filled this need, and people from royalty to the poorest strata
of Victorian society were reassured by mediums that there was a life after
earthly existence, and that it could be contacted. Fraud was widespread, of
course, but it did not dampen the enthusiasm, and some mediums became
celebrities.
Oppenheim explores in detail the implications of this movement for the
Church, and the attempts to provide a scientific basis for Spirtualism which
formed the beginnings of today's parapsychology. The few references made to
current research betray an ignorance of contemporary debate in science and
medicine, but this does not detract from the qualities of this essentially
historical study. This is a highly readable and satisfying book, and it
deserves a paperback edition.
The paranormal has spawned a huge literature purporting to use scientific
findings to support ideas which are, in fact, articles of faith. In Sorcery J.
Finley Hurley argues that there is more to the effects of spells than mere
superstition, and marshals a wide range of evidence to support the claim that
there is a paranormal power to influence others from a distance. His lively but
superficial presentation will appeal mainly to those already inclined to believe
him.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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