Walter Franklin Prince (22 April 1863 – 7 August 1934) was an American parapsychologist and former Episcopal minister, best known for his rigorous, often sceptical investigations of claimed mediums, and as co-founder and research officer of the Boston Society for Psychic Research.[1]
Early life and ministry
Prince graduated from Maine Wesleyan Seminary in 1881 and went on to earn a B.A. from Yale University in 1896, alongside a B.D. from Drew Theological Seminary the same year, later completing a Yale Ph.D. in 1899 with a doctoral thesis on multiple personality.[2] He served as a Methodist Episcopal minister before joining the Protestant Episcopal Church, holding parishes in Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and San Bernardino, California.[3] His interest shifted from church social work toward abnormal psychology, and from 1916 to 1917 he directed psychotherapeutics at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in New York City.[3]
The American Society for Psychical Research
Prince joined the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) in 1908.[4] While at St. Mark's, Prince became assistant to James H. Hyslop, who had re-established the ASPR.[3] Following Hyslop's death in 1920, Prince became the Society's research officer and editor of its Journal and Proceedings.[3]
The Margery controversy and the founding of the Boston Society
Prince served on a Scientific American committee investigating the claimed physical mediumship of Mina "Margery" Crandon, sitting with her throughout 1924 as part of the magazine's $2,500 prize for a demonstration of genuine mediumship; the committee ultimately decided against her.[2] Prince later described the Crandon case as "the most ingenious, persistent, and fantastic complex of fraud in the history of psychic research."[4] Despite Prince's findings, the ASPR board strongly supported Margery, and matters came to a head in January 1925 when editor J. Malcolm Bird — a vocal defender of Margery — was appointed to take charge of physical mediumship research, leaving Prince with only mental mediumship and other work.[2] Prince resigned in protest and moved to Boston to take up a new position with the rival Boston Society for Psychic Research, founded that same year by Elwood Worcester, William McDougall, and Lydia W. Allison alongside Prince himself, who became its research officer under Worcester's presidency.[5] Prince's wife, Lelia, died the same year, shortly after the split.[2]
Research at the Boston Society
Under Prince's direction, the Boston Society ran an active investigative and publishing programme, issuing a regular Bulletin alongside standalone books.[5] Prince's own works from this period include The Psychic in the House (1926), The Case of Patience Worth (1927) — examining a purported spirit communicator channelled through medium Pearl Curran — Noted Witnesses for Psychic Occurrences (1928), and The Enchanted Boundary: A Survey of Negative Reactions to Claims of Psychic Phenomena, 1820–1930 (1930).[3] He also investigated the multiple-personality case of Doris Fischer, achieving what was described as a notable cure, and the Antigonish poltergeist case.[3] In 1926, he began acting as a mentor to J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa E. Rhine, and in 1934 the Boston Society published Rhine's landmark monograph Extra-Sensory Perception.[1]
Prince maintained a nuanced position throughout his career: fellow researcher Robert Ashby later observed that Prince "remained highly skeptical of PK and other physical phenomena, but felt that there was no doubt at all of telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition."[4] He was also a friend of Harry Houdini and fellow investigator Hereward Carrington, working alongside both to expose fraudulent mediums, including exposing the technique used by medium Maria Silbert, who had developed the ability to manoeuvre a stiletto pen using only her feet beneath a table.[4]
Presidency of the Society for Psychical Research
Prince's standing in the field culminated in his election to the presidency of the London-based Society for Psychical Research in 1930 and again in 1931, making him the first American to hold the position since William James.[4]
Death and legacy
Prince died on 7 August 1934 at his home in Hingham, Massachusetts.[3] He is remembered as one of the most methodologically careful investigators of the early 20th-century psychical research movement, particularly noted for applying the same critical scrutiny to fraudulent claims as he did to the cases he took seriously.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Walter Franklin Prince."Psi Encyclopedia (Society for Psychical Research).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Prince, Walter Franklin."Occult World.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "Prince, Walter Franklin (1863-1934)."Encyclopedia.com.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Dr. Walter Franklin Prince, Ph.D. (1863–1934): Paranormal Investigators of the Past."SGHA.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Boston Society For Psychic Research."Encyclopedia.com.