The Ghost Club is a British organisation dedicated to the investigation of ghosts, hauntings, and paranormal phenomena, widely described as the oldest organisation in the world associated with psychical research.
Origins
The Club traces its roots to an informal group of Cambridge academics who began discussing ghosts and psychic phenomena from around 1851, sometimes referred to as the Ghost Society or Cambridge Ghost Club. The Ghost Club itself was formally founded in London in 1862. Over its long history it has gone through several distinct "incarnations," each loosely connected to the last: an 1882–1936 revival whose members included physicist Sir William Crookes and Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a 1938–1947 period chaired by paranormal investigator Harry Price.
The Underwood era
Following Price's death in 1948, the Club was relaunched by committee members Philip Paul and Peter Underwood, who had originally joined at Price's personal invitation in 1947. Underwood served as president from 1960 to 1993, a period during which the Club drew a substantial roster of well-known supporters, and during which he personally investigated cases including the Borley Rectory haunting alongside Price's literary executor, Paul Tabori.
1993 split
In 1993, internal disagreement led Underwood to leave the Club, taking a number of members with him to found a separate organisation, the Ghost Club Society, of which he became life president. The original Ghost Club continued under chairman Tom Perrott, who had joined in 1967 and led the club from 1971. The Ghost Club Society founded by Underwood is now considered defunct, while the original Ghost Club has continued operating to the present day.
Notable members
Past members across the Club's various incarnations have included Charles Dickens, Siegfried Sassoon, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, physicist Sir Oliver Lodge, actor Peter Cushing, and Maurice Grosse, the lead investigator of the Enfield Poltergeist.
Activities today
The Ghost Club continues to hold overnight investigations at sites across the UK, with the stated aim of conducting serious research rather than entertainment. The Club does not perform clearances or exorcisms, and prohibits the use of Ouija boards during its investigations.