Episode 2: Institute for Experimental Religion

As the twentieth century dawns, parapsychology is divided between ghost

hunters—like Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle—and psi

seekers—like a young Sigmund Freud, who takes deeper interest in ESP and

telepathy than is commonly understood.

Early parapsychologists made strides with the British and American branches of

the Society for Psychical Research. William James and colleagues probe mysteries,

expose fakes, and generate controversies. But they function largely on mediums’

own turf: lace-curtain settings of Victorian séance parlors.

Enter two young, driven, and deeply ethical clinicians: J.B. and Louisa Rhine. “It

would be unpardonable,” J.B. announces in 1926, “for the scientific world today to

overlook evidences of the supernormal in our world,”

Wooed to Duke University, the Rhines in the late 1920s inaugurate the Institute for

Experimental Religion, later called the Parapsychology Laboratory. The lab

formally introduces psi research into academia. The Rhines’ efforts—involving

“guess” hits on Zener cards—prove simple, rigorous, and extraordinary. They

make extrasensory perception or ESP a household term. Stats and studies from the

Parapsychology Lab, including evidence for psychokinesis, withstand decades of

withering scrutiny.

This signal has been transmitted by SpectreVision Radio

Written and Narrated by Mitch Horowitz

Produced by Jim Perry and Jon McEdward

Original Music & Sound Design by Dean Hurley

Cover Artwork by Jake in Colour

Selected References

The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud by Ernest Jones, Vol. 3 (Basic Books, 1957)

The Future of the Body: Explorations Into the Further Evolution Of Human Nature

by Michael Murphy (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1992)

The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol.

XVIII (1920-1922) edited by James Strachey, Anna Freud, Alix Strachey and Alan

Tyson

Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other

Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory by Stacy Horn

(Ecco, 2009)

Something Hidden by Louisa E. Rhine (McFarland, 1983)

J.B. Rhine: Letters 1923-1939: ESP and the Foundations of Parapsychology

by J.B. Rhine edited by Barbara Ensrud and Sally Rhine Feather (McFarland,

2021)

“Chapter 6: Psychokinesis,” An Introduction to Parapsychology, fifth edition, by

Harvey J. Irwin and Caroline A. Watt (McFarland, 2007)

Extra-Sensory Perception by J.B. Rhine (1934, Boston Society for Psychic

Research)

Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years by J.G. Pratt, J.B. Rhine, Burke M.

Smith, Charles E. Stuart, and Joseph A. Greenwood (Henry Holt, 1940)

“Telepathy: Origins of Randomization in Experimental Design” by Ian

Hacking, Isis, Sept 1988, Vol. 79, №3

“J. B. Rhine’s Extra-Sensory Perception and Its Background in Psychical

Research” by Michael McVaugh and Seymour H. Mauskopf, Isis, June 1976, Vol.

67, №2

J.B. Rhine: On the Frontiers of Science edited by K. Ramakrishna Rao

(McFarland, 1982)

“Who Was J.B. Rhine?” by Rick Berger, Ph.D., February 14, 2020, at

parapsych.org, website of the Parapsychological Association

ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation by C.E.M. Hansel (Prometheus

Books, 1980)

“Rhetoric over substance: the impoverished state of skepticism” by Charles

Honorton, Journal of Parapsychology, June 1993

The Enchanted Voyager: The Life of J.B. Rhine by Denis Brian (Prentice-Hall,

1982)

Daydream Believer: Exploring the Ultimate Power of Your Mind by Mitch

Horowitz (G&D Media, 2022)

Archive Clips

Fairytale (1997)

Ghostbusters (1984)

Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (TV Series)

Charles Tart on The Case of ESP

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