Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death Paperback – May 29, 2007

Give a legion of thrill-seekers emf meters, digital cameras, lap-top computers, and set them loose on the nearest park, or cemetery, or historical property, and what do you have? Websites full of pictures of "orbs," evp "voices" and notices about when and where and how often the "cops" patrol a certain area side by side with badly-written anecdotes lacking any kind of documentation, and vandalism. What new technology renders up is lots of so-called "evidence" but of what? The current situation in paranormal "investigation" reminds me of the decades-old dichotomy between "pot hunters" and archaeologists. One might end up with a box full of pretty Clovis points, or a website full of twinkling "orbs" but the next step--that of attempting to make sense of what one has so assiduously collected, is not forthcoming. This was not always the case. Back in the 1880's a group of gifted men and women--many of them real geniuses--attempted to rationally investigate haunted houses, mediumistic phenomena, death-bed apparitions, telepathy, precognition, second-sight, and other subjects associated with the paranormal. William James, the great pioneering psychologist, was one of them, and this book centers on his ideas and experiences as well as his interactions with the philosopher Edmund Gurney, the Nobel Prize winners William Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge, and other leading thinkers of those times. Of course, just as today, representatives of the Scientific Establishment attacked these people with varying degrees of success (to this day, for instance, Crookes' name is associated with a yen for young girls disguised as ghosts.) The great thing that Deborah Blum does in Ghost Hunters is to reintroduce us to this cast of characters and the context of their times and to clear away some of the innuendos and down-right lies that have been associated with these people for the past 120 years or so, so that we can again see them for the gifted people that they really were. Far from being slack observers and dupes of the duplicitous, these were real scientists and humanists of note. However, the problem they faced remains that which is inherent in so-called anecdotal evidence. It doesn't matter what your I.Q. is, if an apparition walks up to you on some dark and stormy night, and shakes your hand, and you write it up in a reasoned manner and publish it in some journal, skeptics could still find ample reason to call your character and your abilities into question. And even if five or six or a hundred of your associates see the same thing at the same time, collusion or shared hallucination, or any number of explanations could be trotted out. This also holds true for photographing what's out there (photo-shop, right?), recording it, or videotaping it. And if none of that works, skeptics can still point to misinterpretation of natural phenomena or just plain wishful thinking. In other words, one must first trust the intention and respect the character and the intelligence of the witness in order for anecdotal evidence to work. I, for one, am a fan of William James' Varieties of Religious Experience, so I am inclined to give much of what he says a more-than-sympathetic ear. Similarly, when the mathematician Nora Sidgwick reports her findings concerning haunted houses, I am interested. When Edmund Gurney tells us his speculations on the nature of ghosts, I am fascinated. Of course, the soft underbelly of anecdotal evidence drove parapsychology in the direction of the laboratory and the reproducible results championed by Dr Rhine and his Duke statistical studies, effectively stripping the paranormal of its most fascinating elements in order to comply with the demands of science. It is as if one were attempting to study birds by examining a statistical break-down of the incidence of blue plumage versus red in ring-necked pheasants. What Deborah Blum does well with this book is to bring up interesting examples of the value of non-reproducible (anecdotal) results. One of the most fascinating examples of this is the so-called Cross-Correspondence case of c. 1906--1907 in which Leonora Piper and two other mediums unknown to each other, and separated by great distances, reported bits and pieces of codes and messages communicated through the purportedly active participation of the discarnate intelligences of Gurney, Hodgson, Myers, Sidgwick--all members of the SPR who had passed on. Still, even though this particular series of events was rigorously over-seen by the SPR, one could yet, from this remove in time, posit fraud. Indeed, Deborah Bloom gives the reader of Ghost Hunters a great deal to think about. She herself, though a noted science writer, seems to suggest a middle way. After examining the letters, diaries and published writings of this extraordinary group, she is no longer sure that she can dismiss their investigations so easily. Would to God that such a level of intelligence could again be brought to the table in paranormal investigations. Then perhaps, given our current state of quantum understanding and technological expertise, something new might be forthcoming. (Though from the slippery nature of the subject, I somehow doubt it.) But typically, just a week or so ago, I was informed by a member of a so-called investigations group that investigating the paranormal was merely "a gut feeling," which had little or nothing to do with the ability to articulate findings or to analyze results. My suggestion to him and to the proliferation of other "ghost hunters" of this ilk is to do us all a favor: throw away the emf meters and the digital equipment and reach for the stomach medicine.

Ghost Hunters is a fine description of the effort to prove or disprove the existence and immortality of the soul. During the nineteenth century science was blasting through old boundaries and startling new developments and discoveries seemed to be announced every day. A group of Anglo-American researchers, led by the trailblazing psychologist William James, attempted to apply scientific techniques to the investigation of spiritualism, a craze for communicating with "spirits" which began with the famous Fox sisters in New York state and quickly spread. Mediums who claimed to be in touch with "the other side" held seances and delivered messages via a variety of methods from spirits to those still living.Most spiritualists were obvious either con artists or mentally ill (or both). But there were some who seemed to defy rational explanation at least part of the time, and it was on these exceptions that James and his associates in the Society for Psychical Research in London and its trans-Atlantic branch in New York focussed.The stories of the careers of these highly intelligent, scientific minded and curious men and women as detailed by Deborah Blum are absorbing. They were not fringe people, but included some of the greatest intellectual, political, and social lights of the day. They endured skepticisim and ridicule from many of their peers, but pressed on trying to solve the conumdrum of life after death. The stories of the mediums they investigated are also intriguing. I liked Leonora Piper, who though embarrassed by her apparent abilities put up with repeated investigations which sometimes left her physically injured and emotionally exhausted. I laughed at the stories of Eusapia Palladino, a lusty Neapolitan who was often detected cheating, but who sometimes produced unaccountable phenomena. Lastly I was perplexed by some of the strange tales of seances where some weird things were said and produced that no one could adequately explain away. If these stories were accurately transcribed and reported then it has to be admitted that some remarkably eerie spiritualist sessions took place.In the end the investigators retired or died themselves, unable to produce definitive proof of immortality (but again leading to some highly unusual seances and odd "communications" that, if accurately recorded, leave one with much to ponder.)Deborah Blum has written a scholarly but highly readable work. She very effectively mentions the more concrete scientific advances that were taking place at the same time that James and his partners were conducting their research, and places the "ghost hunters" soundly in the context of their time: a period when any mystery could be solved if solid science was applied and rigorous attention was paid to the tiniest detail. Its ironic but inevitable that the book has to end with James' ultimate question unanswered.

My training has been in physics and engineering and I have long been puzzled by the common occurrence of hearing a supposedly scientifically minded person express disdain for a belief in what I will simply call pseudo-science (all the stuff that science doesn't look at). Blum's book brings the details of the late 1900th century effort to bridge this chasm to life. There is no point in summarizing the book since several of the other reviews do a fine job of that, however, I would like to make a few comments. Reading this material was painful for me because she 'forces' me to witness the intensity and the destructiveness of the disdain and I am embarrassed by it. The reason why I only gave the book a 4 rather than a 5 is that I think the book would have been much improved if it had gone beyond just the recital of facts and included some kind of synthetic effort. For example, having collected, collated and documented these facts it would have been very interesting to hear todays skeptic's views on the material to see if anything has changed. It also would be interesting to know if there is any legacy that followed these efforts.