Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, by Deborah Blum

Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death (2006), by Deborah Blum, is about a remarkable point in late 19^th century cultural and scientific history. Although many scientists had accepted the theory of evolution posited by Charles Darwin, not everyone had bought in, especially the general population. Some scientists who accepted the theory did not believe that it necessarily ruled out a spiritual realm. One of these was William James, the famous psychologist and philosopher, author of Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912, posthum.), and other influential texts, and brother of the novelist Henry James. Another was Alfred Russel Wallace, who co-developed the theory of evolution. These and other respected scientists, including one Nobel Prize winner, along with others who did not want to give up belief in the possibility of a spiritual existence, banded together formally and informally to conduct research that would, they hoped, prove the existence of a spiritual reality. Their organization, the American Society for Psychical Research, is still in existence today, though it lacks the prestige of its founders. James and his colleagues intended to use scientific methods to uncover spiritualistic frauds and to identify those mediums who were genuine.

These researchers were often derided by other scientists who regarded the idea of a spirit realm as ridiculous.  They were made fun of in newspapers and professional journals. Professional mediums did not particularly appreciate their efforts either because more often than not many of them were found to be frauds deceiving the witless multitudes.

A few cases produced tentative results that suggested something might be out there. The most intriguing experiment involved three mediums in different locations of the world attempting to receive messages from a scientist who had died but who had vowed before his death to make every effort to get in touch. When they compared the fragmentary messages they believed they had received, they found them tenuous. It’s unfortunate they did not pursue this experiment further. I would like to know whether the procedures employed in this research measure up to contemporary scientific standards.

Blum does not take a stand on the spirit world.  She does take with serious appreciation the efforts of the scientists involved to learn about or to disprove it.