Recent developments at the American Society for Psychical Research

There have been some developments, generally positive for a change, at the American Society for Psychical Research in the last twelve months, and I thought it worth pulling these together. The major news items are, of course, the move to the Interchurch Center in Manhattan, New York City, which I heard about in July 2025 and which took place in late September/early October of that year, and now the sudden appearance of a greatly improved website.

In May 2025, Skeptical Inquirer columnist Stuart Vyse got in touch to say he was considering a piece on the ASPR. Writing before news of the move broke, he produced an article in the September/October 2025 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, ‘The Demise of the American Society for Psychical Research’ (a premature assessment, as it turned out). He had attempted to make contact with the ASPR for six months, to no avail, and decided to take a deeper look.

He recounts his efforts to access the archive, going so far as to stump up the $100 membership fee – a heroic act of hope over experience (he describes the old website as looking “like it was built back when we were all using Netscape browser”). He adds: “The only acknowledgment of membership was an email receipt from PayPal. I did, however, receive a late-December email from the president of ASPR [i.e. Nancy Sondow] urging me to consider a tax-deductible year-end donation.” Old habits die hard, it seems. Surprisingly, he received a 15-minute phone call from Executive Director Patrice Keane about his archival enquiry, so his $100 got him something, but naturally nothing came of it.

Delving into the murky finances in recent years, he concludes that the state of affairs is a tragedy, whatever one’s attitude towards the subject matter the ASPR was set up to study. He notes it played a significant role in the development of psychology and wider cultural movements in the United States during the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries. Its archive reflects this importance, yet as his experience demonstrated, there was no way to know what material is held there and no way to access it. He felt the responsible course of action would have been to either donate the archive to an established library, as the Parapsychological Foundation had to the University of Maryland Baltimore County, or deposit it while retaining ownership, as the Society for Psychical Research in the UK has done, placing its print archive at Cambridge University Library.

This situation was about to change. In October 2025 I wrote ‘The American Society for Psychical Research has a New Address’, dealing with the very quiet move into the Interchurch Center. As no further information was available, it was impossible to know whether this meant the library and archive were going to be available to researchers, or what other services might be provided, such as publications and a lecture programme. One concern was the reduction in space available compared to the old building, and whether this would necessitate disposing of material. Another was the financial position. While a positive sign, having premises did not necessarily mean the ASPR was on a sound footing.

Curious as to what kind of reception would-be visitors might expect to receive, in December 2025 I wrote to the general ASPR email address (using a pseudonym) asking if the library was open to members and non-members (though there cannot be many of the former at present – possibly just Stuart Vyse!). Not receiving a response, I wrote again at the beginning of January 2026, and to my surprise in the middle of the month I received a reply from Junelle James, the recently-appointed “Archival and Information Resource Manager”. She said she would review my request with her director (i.e. Patrice Keane). The appointment of an Archival and Information Resource Manager sounded a step in the right direction.

A week later I was offered an appointment, in late March (the delay was presumably due to the archive being disorganised after having been shifted from the lovely Strasburger House into storage, and then into the relatively soulless Interchurch Center), Accompanying it was a form to fill in with details of my affiliation, publications and, curiously, including “Please describe how, when and where you intend to use the materials from the ASPR” (italics in original). This is the first time I have been asked to provide such information when accessing a library or archive, and struck me as somewhat sinister. Would the wrong answer result in being refused admission?

In April 2026, Vyse, having finally gained access, told me about two afternoons he had spent undertaking research at the new HQ. He met Nancy Sondow and Patrice Keane, which confirmed they were still active and in charge. The atmosphere was friendly. He said the archive, as I had surmised, still needed work to put it in order and make it fully accessible. The boxes only had brief descriptions, making it difficult to determine what they contained.

So his visit helped allay fears and confirm that the archive was safe and, in theory, available to researchers. This is good to hear, though I was still unclear whether the entire archive is now housed in the ASPR’s suite. I had posted about the opening on the Society for Psychical Research’s social media outlets and the Charles Fort Institute website, asking any visitors to let me know how it went, but did not receive further feedback. That was to be expected, with few visitors initially, though numbers could be expected to increase as the news circulated.

Also in April 2026, French-Algerian artist Abdelkader Benchamma announced that he planned a residency at Villa Albertine in New York, beginning in September. Villa Albertine is an arm of the French Embassy in the United States promoting cultural dialogue between the two countries. He wrote on the Villa Albertine website that, “I recently contacted the ASPR based in New York. This research center, which boasts an extensive archive and a specialized library, houses numerous documents related to parapsychological phenomena. The ASPR has agreed to grant me access to these resources to further my research.” This suggests, a renewed commitment to public engagement, and we’ll see in due course how far the collaboration extends.

In July 2026 James A. Conrad and I were approached by Lisette Voytko, a UK-based American journalist who has written for Forbes among other outlets, and who was planning to look at the ASPR for her ‘Ghost Notes’ Substack. The first article in a proposed series, ‘A Tale of Two Paranormal Societies: The Cost of Standing Still’, appeared in mid-July, contrasting the SPR’s thriving programme of activities with the moribund ASPR. Summing up the ASPR’s inactivity, she points out that “Its website has never been updated – both design and user experience – since its first capture on the Wayback Machine in 1998. (Nearly 30 years ago!) There is zero online repository of research or its academic journals.” We were definitely in Netscape territory.

She highlights the historical connection of the ASPR with Columbia University in the figure of psychical researcher James Hyslop (1854-1920), who was a professor at Columbia, and more tangentially with the 1984 Ghostbusters, parts of which were filmed there and starred sometime ASPR member Dan Aykroyd. It is fitting that the Interchurch Center is located close to the university, and perhaps this is an opportunity for them to reestablish their links. There was a hint the new website was on its way: “In response to questions sent by email, a generic inbox account for the American group replied: ‘Our enhanced website will be available soon...’” At that point I found it hard to believe.

A second article by Voytko, ‘Inside the Fight for America’s Paranormal History’, was published in August 2026. It focuses on the archive’s frustrating non-availability to researchers over the years, and concerns about the conditions in which it was being stored. Like Vyse, she points out, its contents are relevant to a much wider range of scholars than those whose focus is psychical research (the same is true for the SPR), and argued that the inaccessibility of documents may prevent them from reaching a full understanding of their objects of study.

She had heard from a number of individuals who recounted frustration trying to use the old library and dealing with Patrice Keane, including the startling remark that she fended off certain requests for access to material by claiming some of the paperwork was contaminated with radioactivity. The person recounting this gem was dubious about its veracity. Also interviewed was Jim Matlock, who according to his entry in the SPR’s Psi Encyclopedia had worked for the ASPR from 1985-9 as archivist and librarian, and Vyse, who describes his visit to the new library.

Unlike Cambridge University Library’s relaxed rules to photographing documents for private study, Vyse told Voytko he was not allowed to take pictures, and he stresses the lack of organisation of the collection, plus inadequate listing which relies on paper rather than a computerised database. Another interviewee states that often inaccessibility, or problems using an archive, stems from a lack of staff. It is a fair point, along with underinvestment in technology. The truth is, though, that the ASPR did at one time have the money to employ archivists and put money into cataloguing, but chose not to do so. The situation may change with the addition of the Archival and Information Resource Manager, but with only one staff member dedicated to the task, progress will still be slow.

Then in mid-October 2026, without fanfare, the website went live, and was greeted with a huge amount of surprise from those who had been following the story. As to why the ASPR had lurched back from apparent death, mixed in with hope for the future there was some scepticism that this would lead to a full resurrection: it continued to be run by the same people who had fallen short so notably in their stewardship previously. After I posted the news on the SPR’s social media outlets, one commenter thought that perhaps having moved from a rented mailbox to actual premises, the New York Charities Bureau might expect them to have a website so they could show the world they still existed.

Assessing the website, the first thing to say is that we are finally out of the Netscape era, with a clean look, though personally I am not a fan of these pages where it is necessary to scroll down to see content. I was told by someone who had looked the website over that it required further coding work as there were scrolling problems in the Firefox browser, both desktop (Windows 11) and mobile app (Android); I’m sure teething problem will be fixed in time.

What about the content? The old logo has been retained. On the home page, next to a link to “Our mission”, is a one to “Test your ESP”, actually just for precognition. Those trying it shouldn’t take it too seriously, and I wondered why it was given such a prominent placement. The Society’s illustrious history is heavily emphasised, with photographs of eminent past members and brief profiles. Chester Carlson, who provided the funds to purchase the Strasburger building, is included, which to my mind felt vaguely insulting to the poor man, seeing what happened to his generosity.

There are documents, tantalising glimpses of the archive, and photographs of the library, a pleasant room, the walls lined with open-access bookcases. The section on the “library and archives” claims the “library is constantly growing as new collections are added,” though it seems unlikely much has been added in the last few years. Reassuringly, we are told that “The archives are a priceless, irreplaceable treasure that continue to be preserved and protected for future generations.” 

Along with some of the research the organisation carried out in its heyday, we learn that “The ASPR conducts experimental studies of telepathy and precognition including the Ganzfeld, a free-response method conducted in the Society’s laboratory.” Use of the present tense is intriguing, but it is hard to believe they squeezed a lab into the floor space, and even harder to believe research is being actively pursued, with no hint of opportunities to participate circulated openly. Yet the contact section invites enquirers to visit “the library, archives, laboratory, and offices by appointment.” Again, it is early days, and perhaps there will be a renewed research programme.

A selection of articles from the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research range from the 1880s to the early 2000s. Annoyingly, they are defaced by a faint ASPR copyright paragraph running repeatedly diagonally across all the pages, making reading them a chore. As there are only 158 of them at the moment, it’s a top slice, but perhaps this number will grow (it is worth pointing out that the online International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals contains the ASPR’s Proceedings from 1885 to 1952 and Journal from 1907 to 1956). Links to the two videos of Sondow’s talks on YouTube have cleaned-up transcripts. Members of the public are still able to “share your experience”, though without the equivalent of the SPR’s Spontaneous Cases Committee handling them, it is anyone’s guess what will happen to the submissions.

Putting on a lecture programme is a bold move, as critics could come merely to raise points unsympathetic to the management. So far, speakers are being drawn from in-house personnel: Nancy Sondow on ‘ESP and Varieties of Consciousness’ (27 October 2026); Junelle James on ‘An Afternoon with the Archive: Spirit Drawings and the Unconscious Mind’ (4 November 2026); and Patrice Keane on ‘Altered States and Healing’ (18 November 2026). This is a genuinely exciting development, and I hope talks will be filmed. I would particularly like to watch James’s dip into the archive. Perhaps this is the start of a regular series, eventually featuring outside speakers. As ever, feedback on this, or any other aspect of the ASPR, is most welcome.

The terms of service and privacy pages, dated 12 August 2026 at this writing, are admirably thorough. The claim on the library and archives page that “The ASPR is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization that has served public and professional audiences for more than a century” is probably accurate if one deducts the period the ASPR was ‘offline’ in its 141-year history, though it is disingenuous to make it sound like a positive.

There are some omissions. Notably absent is a list of the staff and trustees, and the financial statements, though to include those might lead to awkward questions directed at Sondow and Keane. A search button is desirable to aid navigation. Most importantly, there is as yet no way to become a member. The ‘Membership and participation’ page states, somewhat inelegantly, that “Online paid membership enrollment is currently paused. For current membership information, contact the Society. Rates and benefits listed on the former website should not be treated as current offers.” The organisation may have a board of trustees, at least on paper, but it still has no democratic structures and to all appearances remains a fiefdom. Who knows when enrolments will begin – but then, at one time we would have said the same about new premises and website.

Remaining optimistic, perhaps if enough people do express an interest in becoming a member, they may be able to help encourage the present administration to broaden the Society’s base and stimulate it into becoming more like its UK counterpart. Having a membership would bring in the funds necessary to resume a publications programme, notably its flagship Journal, and more hands to work on the archive. The website is a significant step in the ASPR's journey, but it remains to be seen if content is added on a regular basis, perhaps expanding from a focus on the ASPR’s history and assets to an engagement with the wider field of psychical research. It’s still early days, and while there is clearly much to do to reestablish the ASPR in the position it once held, the future is looking brighter than it has for a very long time.

References

‘Abdelkader Benchamma’ (Spring 2026) Villa Albertine: Residents, Spring (April). Available at: https://villa-albertine.org/va/residents/abdelkader-benchamma/ (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

Ruffles, Tom (21 October 2025) ‘The American Society for Psychical Research Has a New Address’. Available at: https://tomruffles.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-american-society-for-psychical.html.

Ruffles, Tom and Conrad, James A. (22 February 2025) ‘What’s Next for the American Society for Psychical Research?’ Available at: https://tomruffles.blogspot.com/2025/02/whats-next-for-american-society-for_22.html.

Voytko, Lisette (17 July 2026) ‘A Tale of Two Paranormal Societies: The Cost of Standing Still’. Available at: https://www.ghostnotes.press/p/a-tale-of-two-paranormal-societies (Accessed: 19 October 2026).

Voytko, Lisette (14 August 2026) ‘Inside the Fight for America’s Paranormal History’. Available at: https://www.ghostnotes.press/p/aspr-library (Accessed 19 October 2026).

Vyse, Stuart (2025) ‘The Demise of the American Society for Psychical Research’, Skeptical Inquirer, 49(5), September/October. Published online: 12 May 2026; available at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-demise-of-the-american-society-for-psychical-research/ (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

Wehrstein, K M (2019) ‘James G. Matlock’, Psi Encyclopedia. Created 5 August 2019; last updated 22 September 2026. Available at: https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/james-g-matlock/.