The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research 14 (2024)
We have our final Presidential Pages from Adrian Parker this issue. On his stepping down he has been made a Vice- President. Thank you, Adrian, for your contributions to The Magazine over your time as President; they have been much appreciated. I hope you won't be a stranger to future issues. Naturally this section of The Magazine will continue with our new President, Caroline Watt.
In Issue 13 we had the thought-provoking first part of Peter McCue's article "Hauntings" and "Poltergeists": Time for New Terminology? We now have the concluding part in this issue. Do you agree with Peter's thoughts?
One thing that we can hopefully all agree on is the importance of the past. In particular the archives of the Society for Psychical Research. Melvyn Willin is the Society's Honorary Archives Liaison Officer and here he gives us a look into the holdings of the Society, including access details. As you can imagine an organisation founded in 1882 has extensive archives and it would be impossible to give a full, itemised list of all the holdings. We have here merely an overview, enough to whet the appetite! Fortunately Melvyn also gives details on how to find out more. An invaluable resource indeed. However, our own current research notes and libraries are the archives of the future. How many of us have given thought to what will happen to our records when we die? Perhaps now is the time to revisit your Will and make sure your family know your wishes, if you're not sure if your material would be suitable for the SPR I'm sure an email to Melvyn would result in an answer to any questions you have.
John Fraser is next up with some information about his new book, Paranormal Perspectives: One Big Box of 'Paranormal Tricks'? From Ghosts to Poltergeists to the Theory of Just One Paranormal Power. From this taster it promises to be a good read.
We have two separate letters from David Ellis. In one he agrees with Ashley Knibb's view of the importance of time being provided for socialising at events. In his second letter he disagrees with the thoughts of a fellow EVP researcher.
The final piece in this issue is a grant announcement of The Helene Reeder Memorial Fund for Research into Life After Death.
This issue marks the departure of David Ellis as proofreader. I would like to thank him for his help over the years and I would like to extend my gratitude to Stu Neville for stepping in to take over the position.
I look forward to hearing from you at [email protected] and I am excited about sharing the next issue of The Magazine with you. ψ
Gordon Rutter
Editor