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The '''Boston Society for Psychic Research''' was an American organisation for the investigation of psychical claims, founded in May 1925 by Elwood Worcester, William McDougall, Lydia W. Allison, and Walter Franklin Prince. It operated as a rival to the [[American Society for Psychical Research|American Society for Psychical Research]] (ASPR) for roughly a decade, and is now best remembered on The Vault as the original publisher of J. B. Rhine's landmark 1934 monograph, ''[[Extra-Sensory Perception]]''. | The '''Boston Society for Psychic Research''' was an American organisation for the investigation of psychical claims, founded in May 1925 by Elwood Worcester, William McDougall, Lydia W. Allison, and Walter Franklin Prince. It operated as a rival to the [[American Society for Psychical Research|American Society for Psychical Research]] (ASPR) for roughly a decade, and is now best remembered on The Vault as the original publisher of J. B. Rhine's landmark 1934 monograph, ''[[Extra-Sensory Perception (book)]]''. | ||
== Founding: the Margery split == | == Founding: the Margery split == | ||
Revision as of 21:20, 28 July 2026
The Boston Society for Psychic Research was an American organisation for the investigation of psychical claims, founded in May 1925 by Elwood Worcester, William McDougall, Lydia W. Allison, and Walter Franklin Prince. It operated as a rival to the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) for roughly a decade, and is now best remembered on The Vault as the original publisher of J. B. Rhine's landmark 1934 monograph, Extra-Sensory Perception (book).
Founding: the Margery split
The Society's founding was a direct consequence of a bitter internal dispute within the ASPR over the physical medium known as "Margery" (Mina Crandon), whose claimed manifestations had been championed by ASPR editor J. Malcolm Bird. Walter Franklin Prince, then the ASPR's research officer and a fierce critic of Margery's claims, resigned in protest after Bird was appointed co-research officer in January 1925 specifically to oversee physical mediumship research. Prince, alongside Worcester, McDougall, and Allison, left to establish the rival organisation, with Worcester serving as its first president and Prince as research officer.
Research and publications
Under Prince's direction, the Society ran an active research programme, publishing a regular Bulletin alongside standalone books, including Prince's own The Psychic in the House (1926), The Case of Patience Worth (1927), Noted Witnesses for Psychic Occurrences (1928), and The Enchanted Boundary (1930), a survey of negative reactions to psychical claims spanning 1820–1930. The Society investigated a range of cases during this period, including the multiple-personality case of Doris Fischer and the Antigonish poltergeist.
In 1934, the Society published J. B. Rhine's Extra-Sensory Perception, summarising his early card-guessing research at Duke University — a work that went on to become one of the most influential, and controversial, texts in the history of Parapsychology.
Legacy
Prince's tenure at the Society was capped by his election to the presidency of the London-based Society for Psychical Research in 1930 and 1931, making him the first American to hold the position since William James. Prince died in 1934, and the Society's activities wound down in the years that followed as its key figures moved on or passed away.