A Letter to the Lab from Denis Conan Doyle

Saturday, January 16th, 2010 Posted in Letters to the Lab, People in Parapsychology | 4 Comments »

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and J. B. Rhine were not friends. When J.B. and Louisa Rhine published a report in 1927 denouncing the medium Mina Crandon, (aka Margery) Doyle slammed them in the press. Only the year before ...

Whatever happened to Jackie Merkle?

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 Posted in Letters to the Lab, People in Parapsychology | 23 Comments »

While I was researching my book I constantly came across these former psychic superstars. For a time there'd be a flurry of activity around them, lots of press, letters, and public appearances to either demonstrate their talent or expose ...

ESP Games and Academic Politics

Sunday, October 18th, 2009 Posted in ESP and other Phenomena, Parapsychology and Popular Culture, People in Parapsychology | No Comments »

In 1939, Rhine learned that the toy company Cadaco-Ellis was planning to come out with a game called Telepathy. The creator was said to be a psychologist named Dr. Ogden Reed. J. B. Rhine suspected and confirmed that Reed was ...

Another Inventor and the Afterlife: Glenn W. Watson

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 Posted in People in Parapsychology, Science Experiments | 1 Comment »

Watching the History’s Detectives segment about Thomas Edison reminded me of another inventor who had an interest in subjects related to parapsychology: Glenn W. Watson. From my book: "Just before Rhine retired from Duke in 1965, a 75-year-old inventor ...

Edison and the Afterlife Part 2

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 Posted in People in Parapsychology, Science Experiments | 1 Comment »

History’s Detectives did a very entertaining segment about Edison’s machine (thank you for the pointer, Winifer Skattebol). You can see it here. It's the first historical mystery they try to solve and it's really worth watching. And, one of ...

My Take on Edison and Talking to the Dead

Monday, September 14th, 2009 Posted in People in Parapsychology, Scientists Comment on Paranormal | 6 Comments »

In my book I briefly mention the interview Thomas Edison had with Scientific American about a machine he wanted to build to talk to the dead. While I was researching this section I talked to Jack Stanley, the curator ...

More Harold Sherman and Bruce Kremen

Thursday, September 10th, 2009 Posted in ESP and other Phenomena, People in Parapsychology | No Comments »

Once you start researching a story it's hard to let go. I recently asked the librarians at the University of Central Arkansas Archives to search The Harold M. Sherman Papers for anything to due with Bruce Kremen, the missing ...