Simeon Edmunds

Simeon Edmunds (1917 – 1969) was a British psychical researcher and writer on hypnotism.[1]

Simeon Edmunds
OccupationPsychical researcher, skeptic of spiritualism

Career

Edmunds was a research secretary for the College of Psychic Science and member of the Society for Psychical Research. He was the associate editor of the Tomorrow magazine.[2]

He is most well known for his skeptical books on spiritualism.[1] His 1965 booklet Spirit Photography was published by the Society for Psychical Research. It exposed the fraudulent methods involved in producing spirit photographs.[3][4] According to Edmunds "not one professional spirit photographer of any note ever escaped convincing exposure as fraudulent."[5]

His 1961 work, Hypnotism and the Supernormal was described in a review as a "classic and serious study".[6] Psychologist L. Börje Löfgren has noted that although Edmunds considered many mediums to be fraudulent he was not critical when it came to reports of psychic phenomena.[7]

In 2016, Edmunds booklet Spirit Photography was republished in limited quantities.[8]

Publications
  • Hypnotism and the Supernormal, Aquarian Press, London (1961)
  • Miracles of the Mind: An Introduction to Parapsychology (1965)
  • Spirit Photography (1965)
  • Spiritualism: A Critical Survey (1966)
  • Hypnosis: Key to Psychic Powers (1968)
  • Hypnotism and Psychic Phenomena [reprint of Hypnotism and the Supernormal] (1974)
  • ESP, Extrasensory Perception (1975)
  • The Psychic Power of Hypnosis (1981)

Notes
  1. Ashby. Robert. (1972). The Guidebook for the Study of Psychical Research. Weiser. p. 141. ISBN 978-0877281887 "Simeon Edmunds, 1917-69. Former research secretary of the College of Psychic Science (now studies) in London, psychical researcher, writer, hypnotist. A highly critical student of paranormal phenomena, his study of "spirit photography" published by the Society for Psychical Research dismisses as fraudulent all such claims, while his study of spiritualism, Spiritualism: A Critical Survey, is a strong attack upon the movement's credulity, widespread fraud, and self-delusion."
  2. "Simeon Edmunds". Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001.
  3. British Journal of Photography, Volume 113. Henry Greenwood & Company, 1966. p. 703
  4. The Photographic Journal, Volume 107. Royal Photographic Society, 1967. p. 97
  5. Sladek, John. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Science and Occult Beliefs. Stein and Day. p. 215. ISBN 978-0812817126
  6. The Contemporary Review, Volume 241. Alexander Strahan, 1982. p. 56
  7. Löfgren, L. B. (1968). Recent Publications on Parapsychology. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 16: 146-178.
  8. "The SPR in the Journal of the London Institute of ’Pataphysics". Society for Psychical Research.
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