People have always seen ghosts and spirits, in every culture, in every age. For most they have been objects of fear, yet other societies have produced types of individuals who have developed an understanding of them, and may even work with them - shamans, magicians, mediums and some visionaries. The exact role of the paranormal in a society is always problematic - sometimes the mystic is esteemed, and becomes a vital part of the communities life, but at other times they are villified and persecuted as a heretic. Generally speaking, the greater the influence and power of institutionalised religion, the greater the persecution brought to bear on the individual whose personal mystical experience may pose a threat to that institution. ( Bear in mind that a folk belief in the paranormal in some form usually exists alongside the sophisticated theology of institutionalised religion in the hearts of the faithful.) Institutionalised religions need to protect their faithful from rogue charismatic leaders, whose mystical experiences may lead in all sincerity to horrors such as the Jonestown massacre, or to use a more remote example, the excesses of Savranola. That imperative towards protecting the faithful from heresy is what led to the horrors of the Inquisition, and also led to the formulation of elaborate dogma and ecclesiatical law, or as they manifest in other societies, taboos and customs. We must not be too harsh in judging them.
One of the results of this desire to protect orthodoxy was that in Medieval Europe the Roman Catholic Church became incredibly conservative, and demanded full investigation of the miracles of even it's own most pious and devoted followers. A vision of the Virgin Mary may have been that, or may have been a ploy of the Devil, for the New Testament itself endorses this uncertainty - Satan may appear in the guise of 'an angel of light'. While accepting wholeheartedly the reality of the supernatural realm, it became clear to the Church very early on that some miracles were fraudulent, the result or hysteria or simple mistaken observation, and with the additional requirement to understand the miracolous and test it to see if it was godly or diabolic, they evolved a very thourough investigative proceedure. This was arguably the precursor of all modern psychical research - we follow in the steps of the Inquisition! (-and I am desperately trying to avoid Monty Python jokes here... :) )
This process should form the basis of all our paranormal investigations. If called out on a spontaneous case, such as a poltergeist haunting in a family home, we must apply these basic rules. Firstly we gather the evidence, by a process of interrogation of witnesses, physical examination of the scene of the 'crime', and recording of any seemingly relevant data. While it is impossible to set aside ones personal beliefs, it is good and well to be aware of them, and how they may influence how you are looking at a case - which is why several investigators is always better than one. Once you have extablished what supposedly happened, you must then write up the data, in the form of a report which provides as much information as possible. The problem is we tend to select data to match whichever theory we have developed to explain this case; that is what we initially are defending. So now we must take the case to court, and we do that by publishing it, in a forum where both sceptics and other parapsychologists can critically evaluate our findings. The sceptics perform an invaluable service to psychical research - they provide the Prosecution. We may never win the case with a unanimous verdict, but we can ensure that by presenting the facts and arguing our stance, a jury comprised of all future readers of our research can reach their own conclusions. Unpublished research (and research can be published in newsgroups, journals, websites, or in private conference, and need not reveal personal details such as names and addresses - client confidentiality often being vital) is of little worth. Although I use the example of a spontaneous case, much the same applies to our experiments. Without peer review we are contributing nothing but dogma.
This is not to say that there are not other objectives - our primary aim in a poltergeist case is probably to help the disturbed family in any way we can (which can conflict with research), and possibly to collect data for a larger study designed to test a hypothesis. At the end of the day however, most of our endeavours are analagous to a legal investigation.
Alan Gauld, a former president of the SPR (qv), has written a valuable essay on psychical research in seventeenth century Cambridge, England. I will not discuss it here, but will instead try to summarise a more general change in world view. Catholic theology had held that when a person died their soul did not pass straight to heaven or hell, but instead went through a period of sufferring in a state called Purgatory, where sins were atoned for. It was believed that the prayers of the living could be offerred as intercessions for the plight of such departed souls, and this theological framework bears similarities to the modern spiritualist concept of earthbound souls who mediums can locate, and send in to the light, hence redeeming them from this limbo state.
Protestant theology however insisted that no such state existed, and the practice of prayers for the dead almost died out. It has been suggested by some that this is why so many ghostly monks are said to haunt Europe - that they were denied the poper rites they had come to expect, and as a result have become earthbound. My slightly more prosaic theory is that any shadowy figure will appear something like a monk in a loose robe... but I am perhaps cynical!
Protestantism denied the existence of earthbound spirits, instead choosing to interpret them as demonic entities, masquerading as spirits to decieve mankind, a traditional Biblical interpretation. Other scholars made a further assertion - stating ghosts were nothing more than imagination, ignorance and old wives tales. A sceptical tradition was established... In England scholars began to debate the case, and to collect accounts of hauntings, and even in some cases to form commisions of enquiry, who examined the value of the evidence, interviewing witnesses, etc.
Which takes us to the Enlightenment, The Age Of Reason, and the eighteenth century, when the Scottish philosopher Hume published his famous On Miracles, arguing that miracles were a priori impossible. He is the father of modern scepticism, and a brilliant thinker whose ideas are still penetrating today. Space will not permit detailed consideration, but a web search will doubtless turn up scores of articles on David Hume. From this point onwards the paranormal is refuted by the intelligentsia, though it appears this had little effect on either popular opinion or the volume of new cases. While huge amounts could be said about this, it has little to do with our objectives - let us just say that scepticism triumphed, science developed, and the clear light of reason vanished the shadows of superstition...
Until Hydesville, 1848, and an apparent poltergeist case where the 'spirit' communicated creates the idea of mediumship, from which Spiritualism is born and explodes across the world. . For the moment however, they provided a spark which ignited an explosion that rocked science, as eminent scientists witness and attest to the phenomena of the seance room, and later conduct carefully controlled experiments with mediums which apparently produce results! A great discussion is born, and people all over Europe and the USA experiment at home with new ideas such as telepathy, mediumship and especially table turning...
To briefly summarise the split, as I understand it - Peter Underwood, author of many books and outspoken critic of the SPR (qv) was tragically injured in a car crash and forced to take a backseat for a couple of years, which allowed the other Ghost Club members to elect a commitee, and run things democratically. Peter recovered, returned and reinstituted his former method of running the Club, and those who had preferred the new committee run version resigned en masse and set up The Ghost Club Society, a clear rival. Membership in the two societies is mutually exclusive, and as i am a member of neither I can not comment on their relative merits.
Peter Underwood is, surprisingly, an adherent of an epiphenomenalist position, apparently believeing that hauntings are caused by as yet unknown scientific laws, probably in some ways a recording of the past, and are not evidence of life after death. (I base this on his views expressed in his book 'Ghosts and How to See Them', (1993)). His, the official Ghost Club, is usually membership by invitation only, but if you are interested in learning more he may well invite you to join, and the address is below. It is very much part of the London Establishment, with many celebrity members and a very upper class clientele. The address is
The Ghost Club, c/o Peter Underwood, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HD
If anyone does join I would be delighted to hear details.
The Ghost Club Society are actively recruiting members, and as far as I can see are also claiming to be the legitimate Ghost Club -their advertisement reads founded 1862, and cites Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle and Harry Price as members, and current membership includes the internationally famous explorer and writer John Blashford-Snell, MBE. It will not surprise me at all if this goes to the courts! To be considered for membership, write to:-
Tom Perrott, 93,The Avenue, Muswell Hill London N10 2QG
The politics of ghost-hunting! (sigh) - I'll keep you posted.
cj 98