Research source

For the same way, if we were dealing with telepathy, it is to be supposed that the communicators would be the…

Date of account: English edition published 1904
Source: Mrs. Piper & the Society for Psychical Research
Reference: Mrs. Piper & the Society for Psychical Research · selected passage 126
Rights: public_domain
Language: English translation from French
Translation: English translation of Michel Sage with an Oliver Lodge preface
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

For the same way, if we were dealing with telepathy, it is to be supposed that the communicators would be the persons whom the sitters expect

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

For the same way, if we were dealing with telepathy, it is to be supposed that the communicators would be the persons whom the sitters expect. Now this is far from being the case. In the fifteen years during which Mrs Piper's mediumship has been studied, a great number of communicators have appeared about whom nobody was thinking. Professor Hyslop, among others, says that he has met with several communicators whom he did not in the least expect. Others whom he expected did not appear. It is a fact worthy of remark that in Professor Hyslop's sittings only those persons appeared who were capable of telling something of a nature to prove their identity; the others seem to have been systematically put aside by Imperator, even when information concerning them was abundant in the consciousness and subconsciousness of the sitter.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

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