PRF BLOG | Psychical Research Foundation

Dec 31, 2019
10 min

Haunted Holidays

In one of last year's PRF holiday blog entries, we'd taken a look back at an old and long-forgotten holiday custom from the 19th century that has recently begun to receive some attention again (and has thus "returned from the dead," so to speak): This was the traditional custom of telling ghost stories at holiday time. Some people might initially find it hard to believe that such a custom even existed, given that in modern Western culture, Halloween is largely considered to b

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Spontaneous Sightings of a Mother's Spectral Figure

Bryan Williams

May 12, 2019
5 min

Spontaneous Sightings of a Mother's Spectral Figure

In 1922 - a little over three decades after psychical researchers Edmund Gurney, Frederic Myers, and Frank Podmore had initially published their classic two-volume anthology Phantasms of the Living [1] - there appeared a second notable anthology of reported psychic experiences which had been diligently compiled and examined by another psychical researcher, Eleanor Sidgwick. [2] Meant be a sequel of sorts to the work of Gurney and his colleagues, Mrs. Sidgwick's anthology cont

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Another Touching Moment: A Second Tender Tactile Apparitional Experience

Bryan Williams

Feb 14, 2019
5 min

Another Touching Moment: A Second Tender Tactile Apparitional Experience

There have been a number of documented instances in which people say that they'd seen the spectral figure of a certain person suddenly appear before them at a time when that person had been in an accident, was suffering a serious illness, or was facing imminent threat of death. [e.g., 1-2] Occasionally these crisis apparitional experiences, as they are called, occur between two people who are romantically involved, and the following account, which comes from the classic two-v

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A Ghostly Encounter on New Year's Eve, 142 Years Ago

Bryan Williams

Dec 31, 2018
8 min

A Ghostly Encounter on New Year's Eve, 142 Years Ago

One of the earliest surveys conducted to find out how common apparitional experiences are among the general populace was done as far back as the latter part of the 19th century. Known as the "Census of Hallucinations," it was carried out by the early members of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in England, who (with the help of volunteers) had asked 17,000 ordinary British citizens about whether they'd ever seen the vivid impression of another person, or had heard anot

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Bryan Williams

Dec 21, 2018
10 min

The Ghost (Story) of Christmas Past

Typically in our modern Western culture, Halloween has been considered the haunting time of the year - the time that has been most often reserved for telling tales of a ghostly sort. But it may come as a bit of a surprise for some people to learn that this wasn't always the case, and that at one time, Christmas was seen as a seasonal occasion for sharing spooky spectral stories, as well! This particular Yuletide practice of yesteryear recently received attention once again

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Bryan Williams

Oct 31, 2018
2 min

Ghostly Echoes Aboard "The Grey Ghost?"

There are a number of well-known places across the U.S. (and around the world) which carry a high-profile reputation for being haunted, with one of them being the R.M.S. Queen Mary. From the time it was permanently docked in Long Beach, California in 1967, several crew members and visitors have said that they've had experiences of a ghostly nature while on board the retired British ocean liner. These experiences have included hearing phantom voices (as well as other odd noise

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A Touching Moment: Revisiting a Tender Tactile Apparitional Experience

Bryan Williams

Feb 14, 2018
4 min

A Touching Moment: Revisiting a Tender Tactile Apparitional Experience

Although they don't seem to be very common, there have been limited occasions in which people reported apparitional experiences where they'd felt the sensation of being touched by something immaterial or unseen. Some survey findings suggest that around 13 - 15% of apparition cases contain such reports of feeling phantom sensations of touch [1-2], while other surveys have found them to be reported much less often (e.g., around 2% [3]). Among the earliest reported cases of this

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The Worker's Spirit: On Apparitional Sightings in the Workplace

Bryan Williams

Sep 4, 2017
4 min

The Worker's Spirit: On Apparitional Sightings in the Workplace

While haunted houses may be commonly thought of as the main place for a ghostly encounter, some apparitions of deceased individuals have also been spotted in the businesses where those individuals had once worked in life. One example of this - fitting for the occasion of Labor Day in the United States - comes from the case collection of Icelandic researcher Erlendur Haraldsson [1], which was recounted by a man who'd had such an experience when he was younger: I was 15 or 16

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Bryan Williams

Jul 31, 2017
2 min

Visions Near the Moment of Death

Among the various kinds of encounters that people report having with apparitions are those in which terminally ill patients report seeing spectral figures of their deceased loved ones as the time of their own passing begins to approach. These deathbed visions, as they are often called, go back far in human history, with some of the earliest accounts having been documented in the late 19th century by psychical researchers such as Ernesto Bozzano, James Hyslop, and Sir William

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Bryan Williams

May 26, 2017
6 min

The Memorial Ghost

Traditionally, there has been a lot of ghostly folklore associated with graveyards and cemeteries, mainly due to their close ties with the dead. While very little of it seems to carry any real substance as far as real-life ghostly encounters go, there is at least one curious case in the annals of psychical research which seemed to focus around an encounter with a spectral figure that reportedly occurred inside a church graveyard. This particular case is Case #29, found in the

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Bryan Williams

Apr 16, 2017
5 min

A Spectral Encounter at Easter Time

Encounters with apparitions have reportedly taken place within a number of situational contexts. The one which most people tend to readily think of is the context of a haunting, in which the ghostly figure of a deceased person is seen in a certain place where that person had once lived or worked in life. But in many instances, apparitions have also been encountered in the context of a crisis situation, in which a witness sees the spectral figure of someone who is ill, has bee

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A Ghostly Visit on New Year's Eve, 90 Years Ago

Bryan Williams

Dec 31, 2016
4 min

A Ghostly Visit on New Year's Eve, 90 Years Ago

Often times, haunted houses are readily thought of as the setting for encounters of a ghostly nature. But apparitions are also experienced in a number of other situations, as well. One of them occurs when a person is facing a crisis brought on by an illness, an accident, or the approach of death. The experience described below, which is an example of the latter circumstance, reportedly occurred on New Year's Eve exactly 90 years ago today. It had been sent to Louisa Rhine at

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A Christmas Visit from a Lost Love: On the Apparitional Experiences of Widows & Widowers

Bryan Williams

Dec 24, 2016
5 min

A Christmas Visit from a Lost Love: On the Apparitional Experiences of Widows & Widowers

Many of the encounters that people have with apparitions (or ghosts) of the dead take place over a wide range of time, from days, to months, to even years after a person has passed. Often they spontaneously occur when one least expects them to - even at holiday time. Such was the case for a bereaved widow who reported seeing the ghostly figure of her recently deceased husband, as described in her account given in the collection of apparitional experiences gathered by British

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Looking Back at the Ghostly Case of "The Scratched Cheek"

Bryan Williams

Oct 31, 2016
7 min

Looking Back at the Ghostly Case of "The Scratched Cheek"

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Spirit Photography: Some Considerations on its Capture & Interpretation

Bryan Williams

Aug 15, 2016
1 min

Spirit Photography: Some Considerations on its Capture & Interpretation

In the course of investigating an allegedly haunted site, paranormal investigators often employ the use of cameras in an attempt to capture photographic evidence of ghostly activity. And on occasion, some investigators have seemingly caught some unusual-looking images on film. Are any of these images genuinely anomalous, or do they have more conventional explanations? To supplement our previous blog entry on electronic voice phenomena (EVP), this new blog article examines so

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Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP): Some Considerations in Recording & Interpretation

Bryan Williams

May 21, 2016
1 min

Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP): Some Considerations in Recording & Interpretation

Paranormal investigators tend to use a variety of methods and techniques in their attempts to gather evidence for the existence of ghosts. Among the most common is the collection of electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, for short. Could the sounds recorded on EVP samples really represent voices of the dead? In order to begin addressing that question, it is very important for investigators to consider ordinary factors for the sounds and try to rule them out as much as possible.

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Bryan Williams

Dec 12, 2015
1 min

Place Memory & Residual Haunting

Many of the apparitions (or ghosts) that people have reportedly seen nowadays at reputedly haunted locations hardly seem to resemble the classic stereotypical image of a full-bodied, animated spectral figure of a deceased person. Instead, they seem to take rather ambiguous forms, appearing as shadowy outlines, floating lights ("orbs"), or misty, indistinct blobs. It remains a possibility that these supposed "ghosts" may have a purely physical explanation, and do not really re

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Bryan Williams

Sep 1, 2015
2 min

Arrival Apparitions ("Vardøgr")

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