Buzz
The supernatural has roots that stretch back to antiquity. Most religious writings suggest that supernatural forces existed before humans, and ancient civilizations were as familiar with spirits and ghostly tales as they were with their own communities. From traditional beliefs to modern horror cinema, the supernatural remains a constant presence, enduring despite the rise of secularism and scientific doubt.
However, a significant shift occurred in the late 19th century. With the widespread adoption of the scientific method and empirical research, people began to question whether the unseen world could be studied and documented like the tangible world. Some researchers embraced this challenge, applying scientific principles and textual analysis to phenomena such as clairvoyance and historical ghost accounts. While some used science to debunk supernatural claims, others believed that modern science couldn't fully explain all of life's enigmas. Amateur scientists and occult enthusiasts further proposed that the paranormal and the natural world coexist—a notion that fueled public fascination and boosted book sales.
From frauds to genuine believers, all paranormal researchers have contributed to a widespread curiosity about the supernatural that transcends simple storytelling. The popularity of TV shows and documentaries on paranormal investigations has created a common language, even among those with only a passing interest in the subject. Given this cultural prominence, it’s fitting to explore the lives and contributions of 10 trailblazing paranormal researchers from history.
10. William Seabrook
William Seabrook approached the supernatural not through scientific tools or formal training but through the lens of journalism. Born in Westminster, Maryland, to a former lawyer turned Lutheran minister, Seabrook attributed his fascination with the occult to his grandmother, Piny—a self-proclaimed witch, opium user, and nature enthusiast. While his tales of childhood were likely exaggerated, they undoubtedly fueled his lifelong intrigue with the mysterious.
After a whirlwind life that included roles as a top executive at an advertising agency, a volunteer in the French Army’s American Field Service during World War I, and a reporter for the New York Times, Seabrook found his calling in occult-inspired adventures. A chance encounter with a Lebanese student at Columbia University led him to travel to the Middle East. His experiences were documented in Adventures in Arabia: Among the Bedouins, Druses, Whirling Dervishes, and Yezidee Devil Worshippers, where he famously claimed that the Yazidi minority in Kurdistan maintained seven towers designed to emit “occult vibrations” for malevolent purposes.
Seabrook’s most renowned work, The Magic Island, offers a vivid portrayal of Haitian life under American occupation. Though often mistakenly credited with introducing the term “zombie” to English, the book cemented Seabrook’s reputation as an unlikely participant in Haitian voodoo practices. He documented rare rituals and tales of undead laborers with a peculiar aversion to salt. Seabrook even claimed to have encountered a real zombie, though he described it as lacking any extraordinary abilities. The book’s influence extended to cinema, inspiring the 1932 film White Zombie, widely regarded as the first zombie movie.
Following the triumph of The Magic Island, Seabrook penned more unconventional travel narratives that explored the edges of human society. In Jungle Ways, he vividly describes the experience of consuming human flesh, while Asylum offers an intimate look at his battle with alcoholism during a self-imposed stay in a psychiatric facility. In 1940, Seabrook released Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today, a scholarly examination of the supernatural that ultimately argues science can demystify most occult occurrences. Yet, this conclusion didn’t deter Seabrook from dabbling in ESP or participating in black magic rites aimed at cursing Adolf Hitler.
9. Joseph Banks Rhine
J.B. Rhine’s influence was so profound that Duke University, a leading academic institution in the US, named its parapsychology lab the Rhine Research Center. Trained as a botanist with advanced degrees from the University of Chicago, Rhine focused his studies on what he called “parapsychology.” Motivated by a lecture from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the University of Chicago, Rhine joined Dr. William McDougall, a distinguished psychologist and paranormal researcher, at Duke.
At Duke, Rhine explored the possibility of communicating with the deceased using cutting-edge technology of the time. While planning a groundbreaking experiment, Rhine and his wife, Louisa Heckesser (also a botanist with a PhD), published an article in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology exposing Mina Crandon, a fraudulent Boston medium. This led Arthur Conan Doyle, a staunch supporter of Crandon, to reportedly call Rhine “an ass.”
Rhine dedicated much of his career to investigating extrasensory perception (ESP). He wrote numerous books on the topic and was among the first to approach it as a legitimate academic field. Rhine frequently collaborated with William Seabrook, conducting experiments at Seabrook’s farmhouse in upstate New York. Interestingly, Dr. Peter Venkman (portrayed by Bill Murray) in Ghostbusters performs a Rhine-inspired ESP test—albeit an unscientific one—in the film’s opening scene.
8. George Estabrooks
During the early 1940s, Dr. George Estabrooks, chairman of the Department of Psychology at Colgate University and a consultant for the US Army during World War II, made a shocking declaration. He claimed, “I can hypnotize an individual—without their awareness or permission—to commit acts of treason against the United States.”
Before gaining recognition as a hypnosis expert, Estabrooks was a Rhodes Scholar and Harvard graduate who authored numerous articles on clinical hypnosis and its impact on behavior. In 1943, he compiled his research, experiences, and insights into Hypnotism, a seminal work exploring the diverse applications of hypnotism. The US government soon took notice, recruiting Estabrooks for military intelligence-led experiments involving hypnosis.
In a 1971 Science Digest article, Estabrooks not only warned of the risks of using hypnosis in intelligence operations but also detailed bizarre incidents that occurred while hypnotizing US military personnel. His early experiments and his belief in hypnosis as a tool for long-term mind manipulation significantly influenced the CIA’s MKULTRA program, which focused on thought control.
7. Rufus Osgood Mason
Rufus Osgood Mason, once a seminary student and later an assistant surgeon for the US Navy during the Civil War, transitioned into a notable career as a researcher of parapsychology and extraordinary phenomena. His primary focus was on telepathy and hypnotherapy. Mason explored telepathy in his 1897 work Telepathy and the Subliminal Self, and delved into hypnotherapy in his 1901 publication Hypnotism and Suggestion in Therapeutics, Education, and Reform.
As a pioneer in paranormal research, Mason was an esteemed member of England’s Society for Psychical Research, an organization that remains active to this day. His methodologies and theories continue to shape the study of ESP, hypnosis, and other areas within parapsychology and metaphysics.
6. Karlis Osis
Karlis Osis, originally from Latvia, stands out as one of the first psychologists to earn a PhD with a dissertation centered on ESP research. Inspired by the “deathbed visions” initially explored by British physicist and Society for Physical Research founder William Fletcher Barrett, Osis, alongside parapsychologist Erlendur Haraldsson, conducted an extensive survey from 1959 to 1973. Published by the American Society for Physical Research, their findings suggested that deathbed visions were experienced by 50 percent of the studied populations in the US and India.
Osis and Haraldsson later released At the Hour of Death, a comprehensive analysis of deathbed visions. However, their work faced criticism, with Terence Hines, author of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, accusing them of misreporting data and relying on secondhand information.
Osis’s fascination with deathbed visions expanded into exploring life-after-death phenomena and the potential for contacting the deceased. Before his death in 1997, Osis served as president of the Parapsychological Association and investigated numerous reports of ghostly and poltergeist activity.
5. Peter Hurkos
If Peter Hurkos is regarded as a paranormal researcher, he must also be acknowledged as a performer. Born in the Netherlands, Hurkos gained fame by showcasing his ESP abilities on live television. Often dubbed the “Psychic Model of the 20th Century,” he paved the way for later TV psychics like John Edward and Theresa Caputo of “Long Island Medium.”
Hurkos attributed his psychic “gift” to a traumatic brain injury sustained in a ladder fall around 1941. He was later brought to the United States by Andrija Puharich, a medical doctor and parapsychology researcher. Puharich spent nearly three years testing Hurkos’s alleged ESP abilities in controlled laboratory settings.
After earning Puharich’s endorsement, Hurkos began working as a psychic, collaborating with various police departments. He claimed his abilities allowed him to identify criminals or locate victims. However, when tested in high-profile cases like the “Michigan Murders” in the late 1960s, his claims often fell short, leading many to dismiss him as a fraudulent psychic.
4. Frederick Bligh Bond
Frederick Bligh Bond, much like others on this list, seemed destined for a career in paranormal research. As the cousin of Sabine Baring-Gould, an Anglican priest and author of Onward, Christian Soldiers (who also penned works like A Book of Ghosts and The Book of Were-Wolves), Bond likely inherited a fascination with the mysterious and unexplained.
Trained as an architect, Bond was appointed to oversee excavations at Glastonbury Abbey in 1907. Unbeknownst to his employers, Bond was deeply immersed in spiritualism, a popular movement at the time that involved mediums, seances, and other methods of communicating with spirits. He believed that Glastonbury Abbey, a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monastery, was constructed using sacred geometry, making it a powerful site for connecting with the deceased.
Bond was dismissed in the 1920s after the Anglican Church discovered his spiritualist pursuits. Despite this, his work at Glastonbury Abbey is often regarded as the first example of psychic archaeology, a practice that employs clairvoyance to uncover historical truths about archaeological sites. In his book, The Gate of Remembrance, Bond describes how his insights into Glastonbury Abbey emerged after he began experimenting with automatic writing.
Later in life, Bond joined the American Society for Physical Research and the Ghost Club. He also became an ordained priest in the Old Catholic Church of America.
3. Montague Summers
Born in the late 19th century, Montague Summers saw himself as a medieval witch hunter and vampirologist, committed to documenting the dark forces of the Western world. This belief was exemplified by his decision to translate the 15th-century witch-hunting guide Malleus Maleficarum into English in 1928.
A graduate of Oxford, Summers initially aspired to become an Anglican priest but turned to Roman Catholicism after feeling prevented from advancing due to his fascination with the occult, Satanism, and pederasty. After his conversion, he claimed to be an ordained Catholic priest and devoted himself to writing about the supernatural. Among his notable works are Witchcraft and Black Magic, The Werewolf in Lore and Legend, and The Vampire: His Kith and Kin.
Summers became a renowned authority on Europe’s supernatural history, known for his eccentric persona. He often appeared in 1920s England dressed in a black cassock and biretta. Despite being ridiculed by the press, his writings—though more fictional than factual—helped legitimize the study of folk legends and paranormal subjects in academia.
2. Harry Price
Harry Price, a renowned ghost hunter, built his career on exposing fraudulent psychics and spiritualist mediums. Inspired by the “Great Sequah,” a traveling charlatan and snake oil salesman from his hometown of Shrewsbury, Price began investigating the paranormal at just 15 years old. His first ghost-hunting experience took place when he and a friend spent the night in a supposedly haunted manor house, where they encountered classic signs of paranormal activity—unexplained footsteps, shadowy figures, and strange noises. This experience sparked Price’s lifelong passion for collecting books on magic and conjuring.
A master of self-promotion, Price became famous for conducting film interviews and performing ghost hunts on camera. When he wasn’t debunking figures like “spirit photographer” William Hope or medium Eileen J. Garrett, Price led public investigations such as the Brocken Experiment, which aimed to summon black magic forces during the centennial celebration of Goethe’s birthday.
Price’s most famous investigations took place at Borley Rectory, often dubbed England’s most haunted house. Reports suggest that his ghost hunt there triggered intense poltergeist activity, adding to the site’s eerie reputation.
1. Sir William Crookes
The most distinguished scientist on this list, Sir William Crookes, is celebrated for inventions like the groundbreaking Crookes Tube (an early vacuum tube) and the radiometer. Lesser known is his role as a spiritualist who applied his expertise in physical and chemical sciences to studying ghosts and other phenomena. After investigating mediums like the often-discredited Catherine Fox, Crookes concluded that some mediums genuinely possessed the ability to communicate with the dead.
During the peak of Crookes’s fascination with the paranormal, he became a member of The Ghost Club, the Society for Physical Research, and Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society. However, due to his failing eyesight and strong inclination to believe in spiritualism, Crookes was deceived by fraudulent mediums multiple times.
