Psychical research Among the first important works was the two-volume publication in 1886,
Phantasms of the Living, concerning telepathy and
apparitions, co-authored by Gurney, Myers and
Frank Podmore. This text, and subsequent research in this area, was received negatively by the scientific mainstream, The SPR "devised methodological innovations such as randomized study designs" and conducted "the first experiments investigating the psychology of eyewitness testimony (Hodgson and Davey, 1887), [and] empirical and conceptual studies illuminating mechanisms of dissociation and hypnotism" Such efforts were claimed to have undermined "the notion of dissociation and hallucinations as intrinsically pathological phenomena". During the early twentieth century, the SPR studied a series of
automatic scripts and trance utterances from a group of automatic writers, known as the
cross-correspondences. Famous cases investigated by the Society include
Borley Rectory and the
Enfield Poltergeist. In 1912 the Society extended a request for a contribution to a special medical edition of its Proceedings to
Sigmund Freud. Though according to Ronald W. Clark (1980) "Freud surmised, no doubt correctly, that the existence of any link between the founding fathers of psychoanalysis and investigation of the paranormal would hamper acceptance of psychoanalysis" as would any perceived involvement with the occult. Nonetheless, Freud did respond, contributing an essay titled "A Note on the Unconscious in Psycho-Analysis" to the Medical Supplement to the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.
Exposures of fraud Much of the society's early work involved investigating, exposing and in some cases duplicating fake phenomena. In the late 19th century, SPR investigations into séance phenomena led to the exposure of many fraudulent mediums.
Richard Hodgson distinguished himself in that area. In 1884, Hodgson was sent by the SPR to
India to investigate
Helena Blavatsky and concluded that her claims of
psychic power were fraudulent. However, in 1985 the original finding of fraud was questioned and reinvestigated by the SPR researcher
Vernon Harrison, president of the Royal Photographic Society and an expert at detecting forgery. Harrison determined that "As an investigator, Hodgson is weighed in the balances and found wanting. His case against Madame H. P. Blavatsky is not proven." In 1886 and 1887 a series of publications by S. J. Davey,
Hodgson and
Sidgwick in the SPR journal exposed the
slate writing tricks of the medium
William Eglinton. Hodgson with his friend, S. J. Davey, had staged fake séances for educating the public (including SPR members). Davey gave sittings under an assumed name, duplicating the phenomena produced by Eglinton, and then proceeded to point out to the sitters the manner in which they had been deceived. Because of this, some spiritualist members such as
Stainton Moses resigned from the SPR.
Eleanor Sidgwick responded with a critical paper in the SPR which cast doubt on the subject and discussed the fraudulent methods that spirit photographers such as
Édouard Isidore Buguet,
Frederic Hudson and
William H. Mumler had utilised. Due to the exposure of
William Hope and other fraudulent mediums,
Arthur Conan Doyle led a mass resignation of eighty-four members of the Society for Psychical Research, as they believed the Society was opposed to spiritualism. Science historian
William Hodson Brock has noted that "By the 1900s most avowed spiritualists had left the SPR and gone back to the BNAS (the
London Spiritualist Alliance since 1884), having become upset by the sceptical tone of most of the SPR's investigations." ==Criticism of the SPR==