Society for Psychical Research (SPR)

The Society for Psychical Research, founded in London in 1882, was the first organization in the world to conduct scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models, and it remains the field's most historically weighty address. Its founding subjects, from telepathy censuses to automatic writing and haunted case collections, defined the discipline that later became parapsychology, and the society still works all of those seams today.

The SPR runs a live program from its base at Vernon Mews in west London: lectures in person and online (recent entries include a council member's talk on the journey from sceptic to parapsychologist), web events, an annual conference, and involvement in events such as a Canterbury ghost story festival. Its research side funds and catalogues current projects, maintains investigation quick guides and a glossary, and publishes the Journal and Proceedings of the SPR, the Paranormal Review magazine, and the Psi Encyclopedia, an online reference of psi research written for the general reader.

Members have access to one of the field's great libraries and to recordings and archives stretching back over a century, including a research catalogue reaching back to 1884. The society is a registered charity and company with an elected council. The institution's stated mission: The first organisation to conduct scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models.