Lajos Pap (1883–1941) was a Hungarian

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

and spiritualist

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

.Gyimesi, Júlia. (2014). ''Between Religion and Science: Spiritualism, Science and Early Psychology in Hungary''. International Psychology, Practice and Research 5: 1–20.

Career

Lajos Pap was originally investigated by the

psychical researcher Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near- ...

Chengery Pap in the 1920s in a series of experimental

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spe ...

s. He was alleged to have produced

apport Apport may refer to: * Apport (paranormal) In parapsychology and spiritualism, an apport is the alleged paranormal transference of an article from one place to another, or an appearance of an article from an unknown source that is often associ ...

and

psychokinetic Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...

phenomena. Various dead and living animals were discovered after his séances such as

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of Squamata, squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbae ...

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

and

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints ...

s. Chengery Pap stored many of these specimens in a museum. However, it was destroyed during World War II and only photographs remain. The scientific reception to the experiments was not favourable. In 1928,

Theodore Besterman Theodore Deodatus Nathaniel Besterman (22 November 1904 – 10 November 1976) was a Polish-born British psychical researcher, bibliographer, biographer, and translator. In 1945 he became the first editor of the '' Journal of Documentation''. Fr ...

from the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

attended séances and concluded the phenomena were fraudulent. In 1935, Lajos Pap was investigated by the

International Institute for Psychical Research The International Institute for Psychical Research (IIPR) was a short-lived psychical organization based in London that was formed in 1934. It was criticized by scientists for its spiritualist leanings and non-scientific approach to the subject.''B ...

in London by the psychoanalyst

Nandor Fodor Nandor Fodor (May 13, 1895 in Beregszász, Hungary – May 17, 1964 in New York City, New York) was a British and American parapsychologist, psychoanalyst, author and journalist of Hungarian origin. Biography Fodor was born in Beregszász, Hu ...

. He reported that the phenomena were fraudulent and not evidence for the paranormal. During the séance a dead snake appeared. Pap was searched and was found to be wearing a device under his robe, where he had hidden the snake. Other psychical researchers such as

Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent spiritualist mediums. He is best known for h ...

also considered Pap to be a fraud and his mediumship discredited. Price, Harry. (1939). ''Mechanics of Spiritualism''. In ''Fifty Years of Psychical Research''. Longmans, Green & Company.

Career

References

Further reading