Phantasms of the Living

This 1886 publication investigating the connection between ghost-seeing and telepathy is a key source on Victorian psychical research.

Edmund Gurney (Author), Frederic William Henry Myers (Author), Frank Podmore (Author)

9781108027328, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 May 2011

664 pages, 20 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3.7 cm, 0.83 kg

This two-volume work, co-authored by Edmund Gurney (1847–1888), Frederic W. H. Myers (1843–1901) and Frank Podmore (1856–1910), all leading members of the Society for Psychical Research, was first published in 1886. It documents over 700 case studies of ghost-seeing, and aimed to revolutionise thinking about ghosts by proposing a theory that explained ghost-seeing through the idea of telepathy. Volume 1 includes an introduction by Myers and an explanation of the analytical methods used in the study. It then focuses on hypnotism, the telepathic transference of ideas, mental pictures and emotional impressions, dreams, and hallucinations, and contains an impressive essay on the history of witchcraft. This pioneering study is an indispensable source for the history of psychical research. It provides detailed insights into the Victorian fascination with the occult and the supernatural, and is still the most extensive collection of ghost-seeing accounts available.

Introduction
1. Preliminary remarks. Grounds of caution
2. The experimental basis. Thought-transference
3. The transition from experimental to spontaneous telepathy
4. General criticism of the evidence for spontaneous telepathy
Note on witchcraft
5. Specimens of the various types of spontaneous telepathy
6. Transference of ideas and mental pictures
7. Emotional and motor effects
8. Dreams
9. Borderland cases
10. Hallucinations. General sketch
11. Transient hallucinations of the sane. Ambiguous cases
12. The development of telepathic hallucinations.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]