Oxford Phasmatological Society

The Oxford Phasmatological Society was an organisation from Oxford that investigated paranormal phenomena. It lasted from 1879-1885.^[1] It is considered to have been the first psychical research society.^[2]

It was founded by Edward Ridley and F. C. S. Schiller, with Charles Oman, who served as one of its four presidents.^[2]^[3]^[4] Arthur Headlam also served as president.^[5] Similarly to the Society for Psychical Research formed in 1882, it collected and investigated reports of ghosts, hauntings, and psychic phenomena.^[6]

Meetings were held in the rooms of Schiller at Balliol College.^[5]

Publications

Selections from the Papers of the Phasmatological Society (1882)

References

^ Oppenheim, Janet. (2002).The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850-1914. Cambridge University Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0521347679
^ ^a ^b Haileybury Register, 1862-1887. Edited by L. S. Milford, M. A. Hertford: Stephen Austin and Sons, 1887. p. 58
^ Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). Supernatural America: A Cultural History. Praeger. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-313-39899-5
^ Schlossberg, Herbert. (2009). Conflict and Crisis in the Religious Life of Late Victorian England. Transaction Publishers. p. 271. ISBN 978-1-4128-1027-2
^ ^a ^b Anonymous. (1885). The Phasmatological Society. The Oxford Magazine. p. 258
^ Hearnshaw, Leslie Spencer. (1964). A Short History of British Psychology: 1840-1940. Barnes & Noble. p. 158