The Oxford Phasmatological Society was an organisation from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

that investigated

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 ...

phenomena. It lasted from 1879-1885. It is considered to have been the first psychical research society.Haileybury Register, 1862-1887. Edited by L. S. Milford, M. A. Hertford: Stephen Austin and Sons, 1887. p. 58 It was founded by Edward Ridley and F. C. S. Schiller, with Charles Oman, who served as one of its four presidents. Arthur Headlam also served as president. Similarly to 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 ...

formed in 1882, it collected and investigated reports of

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

s, hauntings, and

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

phenomena.Hearnshaw, Leslie Spencer. (1964). ''A Short History of British Psychology: 1840-1940''. Barnes & Noble. p. 158 Meetings were held in the rooms of Schiller at Balliol College.Anonymous. (1885). ''The Phasmatological Society''. '' The Oxford Magazine''. p. 258

Publications

*''Selections from the Papers of the Phasmatological Society'' (1882)

Publications

References

Further reading