The case of the Fox sisters (linked to the emergence of Spiritism), the story of the boy Cole Sear (the protagonist of “The Sixth Sense”), and the cases of two well-known Brazilian mediums, Chico Xavier and Divaldo Franco, illustrate mediumship in childhood. Also, Flournoy (1900) writes that during Hélène Smith’s childhood and adolescence she expressed [...]

In a standard mediumship “reading,” a client (called a “sitter”) asks questions about a friend or relative who has passed away. The medium purports to communicate with the deceased individual and reports any received information to the sitter. Mediums are often eager to provide verifiable information to demonstrate to the sitters that they are indeed [...]

The aim of this study is to investigate the stylistic fit of literary texts under different genres, produced by supposed spiritual authors, obtained while under mediumistic trance.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of research on mediumship, including investigating anomalous information reception (AIR) by mediums. In the last two decades, research has been carried out using blind and controlled methods, with conflicting results. However, the use of controls that are too artificial can impair the manifestation of genuine skills.

Jeff is the Associate Dean for Faculty and Graduate Studies in the School of Humanities at Rice University. He is also the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religion. He is the author of numerous books, most recently The Flip: Who You Really Are and Why It Matters (Penguin, 2020). He is pretty sure he is [...]