Albert Von Schrenck-Notzing
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Albert Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing (18 May 1862 – 12 February 1929) was a German physician, psychiatrist and notable psychical researcher, who devoted his time to the study of
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
events connected with
mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...
,
hypnotism Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychological ...
and
telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
. He investigated Spiritualist mediums such as Willi Schneider, Rudi Schneider, and Valentine Dencausse. Prior to his exposure as a fraud, Schrenk-Notzig would entertain famous and prestigious clients, including Elisabeth Petznek, the daughter of the late Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg He is credited as the first
forensic psychologist Forensic psychology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods (in relation to psychology) to assist in answering legal questions that may arise in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes ...
by
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
.


Eva C

Schrenck-Notzing investigated the medium
Eva Carrière Eva Carrière (born Marthe Béraud 1886 in France, died 1943),
and believed the ectoplasm she produced was genuine. However, Schrenck-Notzing did not believe her ectoplasm " materializations" were anything to do with spirits, he claimed they were the result of "ideoplasty" in which the medium could form images onto ectoplasm from her mind.M. Brady Brower. (2010). ''Unruly Spirits: The Science of Psychic Phenomena in Modern France''. University of Illinois Press. p. 120. Schrenck-Notzing published the book ''Phenomena of Materialisation'' in English translation (1920), which included photographs of the ectoplasm. Critics pointed out that the photographs of the ectoplasm revealed marks of magazine cut-outs, pins and a piece of string.
Carlos María de Heredia Carlos María de Heredia (1872-1951) was a Mexican magician (illusion), magician and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest. He was a leading Catholic critic of Kardecist spiritism, spiritism. Biography Heredia was born in Mexico City and spent his life ...
. (1922). ''Spiritism and Common Sense''. P. J. Kenedy & Sons. pp. 186–198; Albert von Schrenck-Notzing. ''Materialisationsphaenomene: Ein Beitrag Zur Erforschung Der Mediumistischen Teleplastie''. München: Ernst Reinhardt, 1914
Albert von Schrenck-Notzing. ''Phenomena of Materialisation: A Contribution to the Investigation of Mediumistic Teleplastics.'' trans. E. E. Fournier d'Albe. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.; New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1920.
/ref> The psychiatrist Mathilde Ludendorff wrote that the experiments of Schrenck-Notzing were unscientific and that he had been duped by tricks of Carrière. In the Schrenck-Notzing experiments with Carrière the scientific controls were scarce and there was evidence that she had freed her hands in the
séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one ma ...
room.
Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British Parapsychologist, psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent Spiritualism (movement), spiritu ...
wrote the photographs of her ectoplasm taken with Schrenck-Notzing look artificial and two-dimensional made from cardboard and newspaper portraits and that there were no scientific controls as both her hands were free.
Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British Parapsychologist, psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent Spiritualism (movement), spiritu ...
. (1939). ''Fifty Years of Psychical Research''. Longmans, Green & Co.
In 1920 Carrière was investigated by the
Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...
in London. An analysis of her ectoplasm revealed it to be made of chewed paper. She was also investigated in 1922 and the results of the tests were negative. Schrenck-Notzing admitted that on several occasions Carrière deceptively smuggled pins into the séance room. The magician
Carlos María de Heredia Carlos María de Heredia (1872-1951) was a Mexican magician (illusion), magician and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest. He was a leading Catholic critic of Kardecist spiritism, spiritism. Biography Heredia was born in Mexico City and spent his life ...
replicated the ectoplasm of Carrière using a comb, gauze and a handkerchief. Donald West wrote that the ectoplasm of Carrière was fake and was made of cut-out paper faces from
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
s and
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
s on which fold marks could sometimes be seen from the photographs. A photograph of Carrière taken from the back of the ectoplasm face revealed it to be made from a magazine cut out with the letters "Le Miro". The two-dimensional face had been clipped from the French magazine Le Miroir. Back issues of the magazine also matched some of Carrière's ectoplasm faces. In 1913 Miss Barkley in an article in the newspaper ''Neue Wiener Tagblatt'' had exposed the fraud of Carrière:
Miss Eva prepared the heads before every séance, and endeavoured to make them unrecognizable. A clean-shaven face was decorated with a beard. Grey hairs became black curls, a broad forehead was made into a narrow one. But, in spite of all her endeavours, she could not obliterate certain characteristic lines.
Cut out faces that she used included
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, French president
Raymond Poincaré Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré (; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France. He was a conservative leader, primarily committed to ...
and the actress Mona Delza. After Schrenck-Notzing discovered Carrière had taken her ectoplasm faces from the magazine he defended her by claiming she had read the magazine but her memory had recalled the images and they had materialized into the ectoplasm. Because of this Schrenck-Notzing was described as credulous.
Joseph McCabe Joseph Martin McCabe (12 November 1867 – 10 January 1955) was an English writer and speaker on freethought, after having been a Roman Catholic priest earlier in his life. He was "one of the great mouthpieces of freethought in England". Becom ...
noted that "In Germany and Austria, Baron von Schrenck-Notzing is the laughing-stock of his medical colleagues."


Ladislas Lasslo

The Hungarian medium Ladislas Lasslo (also known as Laszlo Laszlo) confessed that all of his spirit materializations were fraudulent in 1924. A séance sitter was also found to be working as a confederate for Lasslo. Lasslo who was originally endorsed as genuine by Schrenck-Notzing was a
pickpocket Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic ...
and army deserter. During his séances he confessed to hiding "spirit heads" made from pieces of gauze in Schrenck-Notzing's pocket or in the seat of his armchair.


Karl Kraus

Karl Kraus (pseudo Karl Weber) was a medium that was exposed as a fraud by Professor Hans Thirring in Vienna in 1924. However, Kraus had been endorsed by Schrenck-Notzing as genuine. Kraus would later write a
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
about his mediumship. He admitted that he had set out to deceive Schrenck-Notzing to reveal the inefficiency of psychical research. In 1928
Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British Parapsychologist, psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent Spiritualism (movement), spiritu ...
obtained the Kraus manuscript. Some of the manuscript was later reprinted by the American Society for Psychical Research and Schrenck-Notzing was charged of being a credulous investigator.


Fraud

In 1954, the SPR member Rudolf Lambert published a report revealing details about a case of fraud that was covered up by many early members of the Institute Metapsychique International (IMI).Sofie Lachapelle. (2011). ''Investigating the Supernatural: From Spiritism and Occultism to Psychical Research and Metapsychics in France, 1853–1931''. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 144–145. Lambert who had studied
Gustav Geley Gustav Geley (13 April 1868 – 15 July 1924) was a French physician, psychical researcher and director of the Institute Metapsychique International from 1919 to 1924.ectoplasm taken by her companion Juliette Bisson. Various "materializations" were artificially attached to Eva's hair by wires. The discovery was never published by Geley. Eugéne Osty (the director of the institute) and members Jean Meyer, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing and
Charles Richet Charles Robert Richet (; 25 August 1850 – 4 December 1935) was a French physiologist at the Collège de France and immunology pioneer. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis". Riche ...
all knew about the fraudulent photographs but were firm believers in mediumship phenomena so demanded the scandal be kept secret.


Published works

*
Phenomena of Materialisation
', 1923 *
Therapeutic Suggestion in Psychopathia Sexualis With Special Reference to Contrary Sexual Instinct
', 1898 (co-authored with
Charles Gilbert Chaddock Charles Gilbert Chaddock (November 14, 1861 – July 20, 1936) was an American neurologist, psychiatrist, and translator. He is remembered for describing the Chaddock reflex and is credited with introducing the terms '' bisexuality'', '' hete ...
)


References

Michaela Lindigner. ''Erzsi: Rote Erzherzogin, Spiritistin, Skandalprinzessin'' (Wien — Graz: Molden Verlag, 2021).


Further reading

*Andreas Fischer. ''In the Darkroom of a Medium Researcher: Albert von Schrenck-Notzing''. From ''The Message. Art and Occultism. With an Essay by
André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
'' (Ed. by Claudia Dichter, Hans Günter Golinski, Michael Krajewski, Susanne Zander. Pub. by Kunstmusem Bochum. Walther König: Köln 2007) p. 137–142. . * *Helene Pleasants
Albert von Schrenck-Notzing
From ''Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology with Directory and Glossary 1946–1996'' (NY: Garrett Publications, 1964). * Peter Underwood. ''Dictionary of the Supernatural'' (Harrap, 1978).


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schrenck-Notzing, Albert von 1862 births 1929 deaths German psychologists Paranormal hoaxes Parapsychologists People from Oldenburg (state) World record holders