The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research 16 (2024)
I was recently reading Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting and Why We Keep Looking by Alice Vernon (a review is on the SPR website). Amongst other things it discusses the foundation of the SPR. As part of this the original membership fees are mentioned. The main category was quoted as costing two guineas at the time, which was equated to three days wages. In Bob Charman's article An Inquiry we have exactly the same figure quoted, in a different context. The synchronicity struck me and as I had just recently paid my membership fees I wondered how this compared to the current membership fee. Two guineas is £2.10 and using the handy Bank of England Inflation Calculator this equates to £220. Regular membership of the SPR is currently £84. So in real terms the fees have gone down, and it's most definitely not the equivalent of three days wages – in the UK the statutory National Living Wage for three days for those over 21 is a shade under £300. That strikes me as good value for money.
This issue we have several case reports. The first is from Ted Dixon and features The Haunting of a North London Library in the Mid 1990s. Like some of the other accounts it is anonymised and the location is only listed as North London although all locations and real names are on file. Have you experienced similar events in libraries you may have visited? If I am a typical SPR member I know we must all spend a great deal of time in various libraries! Whenever I move to a new area the first things I do are to register at a medical practice and then at the local library.
We have a welcome return from John Fraser with The "Stone Throwing Pink Monk Poltergeist"- An Entity with Hauntingly Close Cousins Worldwide? A poltergeist with certain characteristics is compared to similar entities around the world. Details of this case and many others can be found in John's most recent book Poltergeist! A New Investigation into Destructive Haunting
Sophie Parkes-Nield writes on behalf of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Hertfordshire and Chapman University, USA telling us about some of the results of The National Folklore Survey for England. The results are being released at various and this set touches on belief in ghosts and life after death..
Chris Bratcher tells us about a past case of A Tale of Three JOTTs. Rather than one of those things, three of those things!
And finally we have a request from independent researcher Paul Lee. He writes:
I'm researching the BBC trips to the "haunted" Construction Industry Training Board (ex RAF Bircham Newton) in North West Norfolk which probably occurred in December 1971. The BBC visited twice that month and segments featured on the radio shows hosted by Jack de Manio and also on the TV programme Nationwide. If you heard or saw these and can remember details (especially transmission dates!) I'd be delighted to hear from you. My email is [email protected]
So if you can help Paul in any part of his quest please contact him and I look forward to hearing from you at [email protected].ψ
Gordon Rutter
Editor