the Society for Psychical Research

The Danish Society for Psychical Research was unfortunately shut down last year. It was more than 100 years old, and it’s a great shame. I was a member for a decade but canceled my membership because I didn’t find the quality of their journal and studies to be sufficiently high.

Now, I have discovered that the SPR is also open for membership to non-British citizens. I have considered joining as I want to support this kind of research (I would hate to see it all become extinct). Is anyone here a member who could shed some light on the quality of their journal, particularly how much new research is being done and is being described in the journal?

The Danish Society for Psychical Research was unfortunately shut down last year. It was more than 100 years old, and it’s a great shame. I was a member for a decade but canceled my membership because I didn’t find the quality of their journal and studies to be sufficiently high.

Now, I have discovered that the SPR is also open for membership to non-British citizens. I have considered joining as I want to support this kind of research (I would hate to see it all become extinct). Is anyone here a member who could shed some light on the quality of their journal, particularly how much new research is being done and is being described in the journal?

 

I was a member for a while and left. I found it dull and academic with no real research. Just a personal view.

 

I was a member for a while and left. I found it dull and academic with no real research. Just a personal view.

Thank you for sharing your view. The danish society spent too much time dwelving on the paranormal research of the past. I’m mainly be interested in modern paranormal research.

I'm a member and I think its benefits outweigh the negatives. While the Journal of the SPR is frequently late and usually half-full of book reviews (which may be what you want) it does have some recent experimental work detailed, alongside some pretty niche historical reviews. But with, at most, two academic papers in an issue, I find myself accepting that sometimes an issue of the Journal covers nothing that I'm interested in. On the other hand, when it does, it offers me something I can't get anywhere else.

There's access to online and in person events and, sometimes, recordings of those events. Also, there's the Magazine of the SPR which is a more informal way of reading about recent work and opinion pieces. And, of course, there's the online archive of the JSPR which can totally take over your evening. I know some members aren't keen on it - the format is the same as when it launched about 20 years ago but, for all its flaws, I enjoy it.