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Nandor Fodor (May 13, 1895 in
Beregszász Berehove ( uk, Берегове; hu, Beregszász) is a city located in Zakarpattia Oblast (province) in western Ukraine, near the border with Hungary. It is the cultural centre of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Serving as the administrativ ...
,
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
– May 17, 1964 in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, New York) was a British and American parapsychologist,
psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...
, author and journalist of Hungarian origin.


Biography

Fodor was born in Beregszász, Hungary. He received a doctorate in law from the Royal Hungarian University of Science in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
. He moved to New York to work as a journalist and to Britain in 1929 where he worked for a newspaper company. Buckland, Raymond. (2005). ''The Spirit Book: The Encyclopedia of Clairvoyance, Channeling, and Spirit Communication''. Visible Ink Press. p. 144. Fodor was one of the leading authorities on
poltergeist In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descr ...
s,
haunting The list of reportedly haunted locations throughout the world, that are locations said to be haunted by ghosts or other supernatural beings, including demons. Reports of haunted locations are part of ghostlore, which is a form of folklore. Ar ...
and paranormal phenomena usually associated with
mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship o ...
. Fodor, who was at one time
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
's associate, wrote on subjects like prenatal development and dream interpretation, but is credited mostly for his
magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
, ''Encyclopedia of Psychic Science'', first published in 1934. Fodor was the London correspondent for the
American Society for Psychical Research The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States dedicated to parapsychology. It maintains offices and a library, in New York City, which are open to both members and the gener ...
(1935-1939). He worked as an editor for the ''
Psychoanalytic Review The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP) is an institution established in New York City by Theodore Reik in 1948, in response to the controversy over lay analysis and the question of the training of psychoanalysts in the ...
'' and was a member of the
New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...
. Fodor in the 1930s embraced
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
phenomena but by the 1940s took a break from his previous work and advocated a psychoanalytic approach to psychic phenomena.Timms, Joanna. (2012)
''Phantasm of Freud: Nandor Fodor and the Psychoanalytic Approach to the Supernatural in Interwar Britain''
Psychoanalysis & History. Volume 14: 5-27.
He published skeptical newspaper articles on mediumship, which caused opposition from spiritualists. Among the subjects he closely studied was the case of
Gef the talking mongoose Gef ( ), also referred to as the Talking Mongoose or the Dalby Spook, was the name given to an allegedly talking mongoose which was claimed to inhabit a farmhouse owned by the Irving family. The Irvings' farm was located at Cashen's Gap near ...
. (This case is the basis for the film ''Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose'', being produced in 2022, starring
Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...
,
Minnie Driver Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic ''Grosse ...
, and
Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...
.)


Poltergeists

Fodor pioneered the theory that
poltergeist In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descr ...
s are external manifestations of conflicts within the
subconscious mind In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness. Scholarly use of the term The word ''subconscious'' represents an anglicized version of the French ''subconscient'' as coined in 1889 by the psycho ...
rather than autonomous entities with minds of their own. He proposed that poltergeist disturbances are caused by human agents suffering from some form of emotional stress or tension and compared reports of poltergeist activity to hysterical conversion symptoms resulting from emotional tension of the subject. In 1938, Fodor investigated the Thornton Heath poltergeist case that involved Mrs. Forbes. According to
Rosemary Guiley Rosemary Ellen Guiley (July 8, 1950 - July 18, 2019) was an American writer on topics related to spirituality, the occult, and the paranormal. She was also a radio show host, a certified hypnotist, a board director of the "National Museum of Mys ...
"Fodor asserted that the psychosis was an episodic mental disturbance of schizophrenic character, and that Mrs. Forbes' unconscious mind was responsible for the activities finally determined to be fraudulent. Fodor eventually identified the cause as sexual trauma that had occurred in Mrs. Forbes's childhood, and had been repressed." Guiley, Rosemary. (1994). ''The Guinness Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits''. Guinness World Records Limited. p. 125. p. 334. Because he was skeptical of the case, Fodor was heavily criticized by spiritualists and was dismissed from his post at 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.''Bl ...
. The spiritualist
Arthur Findlay Arthur Findlay MBE JP (May 16, 1883 – July 24, 1964) was a writer, accountant, stockbroker and Essex magistrate, as well as a significant figure in the history of the religion of Spiritualism, being a partial founder of the newspaper ''Psych ...
, who founded the institute, did not approve of his research and resigned. Fodor was attacked in the Spiritualist newspaper, ''
Psychic News ''Psychic News'' was a weekly British Spiritualist newspaper published from 1932 to July 2010, and revived with a change in ownership in December 2011. History, 1932-2010 The first issue of the paper was published on 28 May 1932. The name of t ...
'' which he sued for
libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
. Fodor published two scientific papers on poltergeist phenomena, ''The Psychoanalytic Approach to the Problems of Occultism'' (1945) and ''The Poltergeist, Psychoanalyzed'' (1948). "The poltergeist is not a ghost. It is a bundle of projected repressions," he stated. With the psychical researcher
Hereward Carrington Hereward Carrington (17 October 1880 – 26 December 1958) was a well-known British-born American investigator of psychic phenomena and author. His subjects included several of the most high-profile cases of apparent psychic ability of his times, ...
Fodor co-authored ''Haunted People: Story of the Poltergeist down the Centuries'' (1951), the book which received positive reviews. The psychologist Robert Baker and the skeptical investigator
Joe Nickell Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal. Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and writes regularly for their journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer''. He is als ...
wrote in most cases Fodor discovered that ghosts are "pure inventions of the hauntee's subconscious" and praised Fodor's book ''The Haunted Mind'' as vastly entertaining. However, Fodor's belief that some poltergeist phenomena could be explained by
psychokinesis 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 ...
has drawn criticism. Henry Gordon has stated that parapsychologists such as Fodor and
William G. Roll William G. Roll (July 3, 1926 – January 9, 2012) was an American psychologist and parapsychologist on the faculty of the Psychology Department of the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia. Roll is most notable for his belief in ...
took a speculative approach to the poltergeist subject, ignoring the rational explanation of deception in favour of a belief in the paranormal. Gordon, Henry. (1988). ''Extrasensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirley MacLaine, Ghosts, UFO''. Prometheus Books. pp. 106-107.


Prenatal psychology

Fodor's work ''The Search for the Beloved'' (1949) has been described as an influential text in the field of
prenatal psychology Prenatal psychology can be seen as a part of developmental psychology, although historically it was developed in the heterogenous field of psychoanalysis. Its scope is the description and explanation of experience and behaviour of the individual b ...
. Fodor believed that a pregnant mother could communicate
telepathically Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...
with the mind and body of her unborn child. He held that the mother could cause physical and psychological events in her unborn child depending on her state of mind. Science writer
Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...
noted that although Fodor had contributed to respectable psychoanalytical journals his views on telepathy were
pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
. Gardner, Martin. (1957). ''
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science ''Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science'' (1957)—originally published in 1952 as ''In the Name of Science: An Entertaining Survey of the High Priests and Cultists of Science, Past and Present''—was Martin Gardner's second book. A survey o ...
''. Dover Publications. p. 309.


Publications

Books * ''Encyclopedia of Psychic Science''. London: Arthurs Press, 1934. * ''These Mysterious People''. London: Rider, 1936. * ''The Search for the Beloved: A Clinical Investigation of the Trauma of Birth and Pre-Natal Conditioning.'' New York: Hermitage Press, 1949. * ''Haunted People: The Story of the Poltergeist Down the Centuries''. [with
Hereward Carrington Hereward Carrington (17 October 1880 – 26 December 1958) was a well-known British-born American investigator of psychic phenomena and author. His subjects included several of the most high-profile cases of apparent psychic ability of his times, ...
]. New York: Dutton, 1951. * ''New Approaches to Dream Interpretation''. New York, 1951. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1951. * ''On the Trail of the Poltergeist''. New York: Citadel Press, 1958. * ''The Haunted Mind: A Psychoanalyst Looks at the Supernatural''. New York: Garrett Publications, 1959. * ''Mind Over Space''. New York: Citadel, 1962. * ''Freud: Dictionary of Psychoanalysis''. Fawcett Premier, 1963. * ''Between Two Worlds''. New York: Paperback Library, 1964. * ''The Unaccountable''. New York: Award Books, 1968. * ''Freud, Jung, and Occultism''. University Books, 1971. Papers *Fodor, N. (1936) ''The Lajos Pap Experiments''. International Institute for Psychical Research. Bulletin II. *Fodor, N. (1937) ''I Investigate Another Case of Haunting''. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research: 29. *Fodor, N. (1937) ''Mysterious Knockings''. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research: 189–90. *Fodor, N. (1939) ''The Ghost in Chelsea''. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research: 55. *Fodor, N. (1945) ''A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Problems of Occultism''. Journal of Clinical Psychopathology and Psychotherapy, July: 69. *Fodor, N. (1945) ''The Lure of the Supernatural''. Psychiatric Quarterly 20: 258. *Fodor, N. (1946)
''Sex and Mediumship''
Round Robin 2: 11–14. *Fodor, N. (1947) ''Telepathy in Analysis''. Psychiatric Quarterly 21: 171–89. *Fodor, N. (1948) ''The Poltergeist Psychoanalyzed''. Psychiatric Quarterly 22: 195–203. *Fodor, N. (1949) ''I Psychoanalyze Ghosts''. Mechanix Illustrated, September: 150. *Fodor, N. (1956) ''Was Harry Price a Fraud?''. Tomorrow 4(2): 2.


References


Further reading

*Glover, Edward. (1950). ''Freud: Dictionary Of Psycho-Analysis by Nandor Fodor, Frank Gaynor''. ''
British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...
''. Vol. 2, No. 4695. p. 1479. *Salter, William Henry. (1934)
''Review of Encyclopedia of Psychic Science''
Journal of Society for Psychical Research 28: 207–209.


External links


Freud, Jung, and Occultism. Nandor Fodor. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1971. 272 pp.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fodor, Nandor 1895 births 1964 deaths People from Berehove Hungarian psychoanalysts Parapsychologists