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| Ghost Club album on display at the College of Psychic Studies |
The Ghost Club claims to be – as its
website banner puts it – ‘The world’s oldest organisation associated with
psychical research. Established circa
1862.’ The 1862 date is frequently
repeated in articles (not to mention in the Club’s Twitter handle); however, the
‘circa’ gives pause for thought as it suggests a lack of precise information. The brief history on the Ghost Club website
provided by its chairman, Alan Murdie, is similarly vague about the early days
when it says ‘The Ghost Club seems to have dissolved in the 1870s following the
death of Dickens but it was relaunched in 1882.’
The reason for the vagueness is
that the 1862 incarnation of the Ghost Club left few traces, but what is clear
is that there was a break of some years after its dissolution in the following
decade (number unspecified). A new Ghost
Club was formed in the same year the Society for Psychical Research was founded
(the SPR in February, the Ghost Club in November, 1882). This time the Club did leave records, and
when it folded again in 1936, they were deposited at the British Museum.
Some months later Harry Price
launched it once more, this time as a dining club rather than an investigatory
body, and thus it remained until his death in 1948, when it ceased to function. Later, some of the members of the previous
committee decided to have yet another go.
These included Peter Underwood, the dominant figure in the post-Price
period until the schism caused by his autocratic manner in 1993, when he left
to start the Ghost Club Society. The Ghost Club continued in parallel and outlasted
its rival.
Thus we can see that, rather than
a single entity, there have been a number of separate organisations using the
name of Ghost Club: from ‘circa 1862’ to some point after the death of Charles
Dickens in 1870; from late 1882 to 1936; from 1938 to 1948; and from 1954 to
the present day. It is hard to argue the
Ghost Club has existed since 1862 when all that binds the various organisations
is the name. As I have said elsewhere, ‘It is like me resurrecting the London
Dialectical Society’s name and claiming my organisation was founded in 1867.’
Even if one is generous and
argues there was some continuity of personnel linking the various incarnations
(which still does not mean the organisation is continuous), one cannot
reasonably push this back further than 1938, as is indicated by the new
organisation not taking over the records of the one that ceased to exist in
1936. And if one does want to argue
there is still some continuity there, the gap between the ending of the first Club
in the 1870s and the formation of the new one in late 1882 is just too long for
it to be considered a single organisation.
Support for a 1954 date for the
origin of the present Club is provided by one of those behind the post-Price
revival, Philip Paul. He devotes a
chapter to his book Some Unseen Power:
Diary of a Ghost-Hunter (1985) to his brief involvement before he fell out
with the committee. Tellingly, he refers
to the Ghost Club as ‘a body of socially minded inquirers founded in 1862,
recreated by Harry Price and made defunct by his death in 1948.’ The key words are ‘recreated’ and ‘defunct’.
One institution which does not appear
to consider the Ghost Club the oldest organisation etc. is the College of
Psychic Studies (founded in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance, but
despite the name change definitely the same entity). On a recent visit to see the Art and Spirit: Visions of Wonder exhibition
they had put on, I came across an album displayed in a bookcase captioned
‘Ghost Club Album circa 1880’.
Unfortunately there was no information about its contents or provenance,
but the description begins unequivocally, ‘The Ghost Club was founded in 1882…’ I would still take issue with that, but at
least it does not endorse the 1862 date.
To conclude, it is incorrect to
say that the Ghost Club, venerable as it is, can claim to be ‘The world’s
oldest organisation associated with psychical research.’ That distinction must belong to the SPR,
which can boast an unbroken existence, with the records to prove it, back to
the beginning of 1882. The Ghost Club is
a fine organisation I’m sure, but it should not arrogate to itself honours that
are rightly due elsewhere.
