Episode 2: Institute for Experimental Religion As the twentieth century dawns, parapsychology is divided between ghost hunters—like Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle—and psi seekers—like a young Sigmund Freud, who takes deeper interest in ESP and telepathy than is commonly understood. Early parapsychologists made strides with the British and American branches of the Society for Psychical Research. William James and colleagues probe mysteries, expose fakes, and generate controversies. But they function largely on mediums’ own turf: lace-curtain settings of Victorian séance parlors. Enter two young, driven, and deeply ethical clinicians: J.B. and Louisa Rhine. “It would be unpardonable,” J.B. announces in 1926, “for the scientific world today to overlook evidences of the supernormal in our world,” Wooed to Duke University, the Rhines in the late 1920s inaugurate the Institute for Experimental Religion, later called the Parapsychology Laboratory. The lab formally introduces psi research into academia. The Rhines’ efforts—involving “guess” hits on Zener cards—prove simple, rigorous, and extraordinary. They make extrasensory perception or ESP a household term. Stats and studies from the Parapsychology Lab, including evidence for psychokinesis, withstand decades of withering scrutiny. This signal has been transmitted by SpectreVision Radio Written and Narrated by Mitch Horowitz Produced by Jim Perry and Jon McEdward Original Music & Sound Design by Dean Hurley Cover Artwork by Jake in Colour Selected References The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud by Ernest Jones, Vol. 3 (Basic Books, 1957) The Future of the Body: Explorations Into the Further Evolution Of Human Nature by Michael Murphy (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1992) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. XVIII (1920-1922) edited by James Strachey, Anna Freud, Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory by Stacy Horn (Ecco, 2009) Something Hidden by Louisa E. Rhine (McFarland, 1983) J.B. Rhine: Letters 1923-1939: ESP and the Foundations of Parapsychology by J.B. Rhine edited by Barbara Ensrud and Sally Rhine Feather (McFarland, 2021) “Chapter 6: Psychokinesis,” An Introduction to Parapsychology, fifth edition, by Harvey J. Irwin and Caroline A. Watt (McFarland, 2007) Extra-Sensory Perception by J.B. Rhine (1934, Boston Society for Psychic Research) Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years by J.G. Pratt, J.B. Rhine, Burke M. Smith, Charles E. Stuart, and Joseph A. Greenwood (Henry Holt, 1940) “Telepathy: Origins of Randomization in Experimental Design” by Ian Hacking, Isis, Sept 1988, Vol. 79, №3 “J. B. Rhine’s Extra-Sensory Perception and Its Background in Psychical Research” by Michael McVaugh and Seymour H. Mauskopf, Isis, June 1976, Vol. 67, №2 J.B. Rhine: On the Frontiers of Science edited by K. Ramakrishna Rao (McFarland, 1982) “Who Was J.B. Rhine?” by Rick Berger, Ph.D., February 14, 2020, at parapsych.org, website of the Parapsychological Association ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation by C.E.M. Hansel (Prometheus Books, 1980) “Rhetoric over substance: the impoverished state of skepticism” by Charles Honorton, Journal of Parapsychology, June 1993 The Enchanted Voyager: The Life of J.B. Rhine by Denis Brian (Prentice-Hall, 1982) Daydream Believer: Exploring the Ultimate Power of Your Mind by Mitch Horowitz (G&D Media, 2022) Archive Clips Fairytale (1997) Ghostbusters (1984) Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (TV Series) Charles Tart on The Case of ESP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
