In 1848, the “spiritualism” movement swept the US and the world. This movement gained momentum VERY quickly, and several “mediums” began to get rich off a grieving public who could not let go of loved ones who had passed. These mediums would claim to bring messages from the other side to help “heal” the grief of people…. for a price. Society was a lot different back then, and in general people were very uneducated, so in 1850 the scientific community as a whole created the field of parapsychology to try and debunk these “mystics.”
The top minds of that time got together to try to figure out how these “psychics” performed their parlor tricks. Their roster included people like Sir William Crooks (discovered cathode rays, x-rays, and the electron), Sir Oliver Lodge (responsible for advancements in physics, early research into electricity, worked on radio, and credited by Albert Einstein, who used Lodge’s research to develop his theory of relativity), Henry Sidgwick, Fredrick Myers, and British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. Later non-scientific people joined this field like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lewis Carroll, William Gladstone, Harry Houdini, Mark Twain, and the first ghost hunter, Harry Price.
It was not until 1924 that they come across a “psychic” they could not debunk. Her name was Mina Crandon, a.k.a. Margery. Since they could not debunk her, they were forced to label her as legitimate and spawned a rage in the scientific community. Harry Houdini tried throughout his career as a parapsychologist to “debunk” her and remained unsuccessful to his death. Because of Margery, the scientific community turned their backs on this field, and in their minds it has been a quasi-science ever since, even though they themselves created this field to investigate various aspects of the paranormal as we do now.
We still use the same theories that were first developed by Harry Price, although through technology we have gone farther than he had ever dreamed possible. Through the use of EMF meters, thermal scanners, Geiger counters, and other technology, we have proven his thoughts to be accurate concerning the atmospheric deviations “ghosts” create. The media hype concerning ghosts and psychics is creating a new “spiritualism” movement in this millennium, and it is only a matter of time before the scientific community as a whole embraces us, their long lost sister, to help combat this movement and prove frauds of those people who profit from others’ misery.
Everything we do in this field is vital for the new foundation of parapsychology. Unlike “psychics,” our equipment is nonjudgmental and cannot be tampered with by the minds of men. They simply tell the truth as to what is occurring in a location. I believe that we are more legitimate than someone who simply “feels” something in a home, something that cannot be supported with evidence.