The Ghost Club is a

paranormal investigation Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters use a variety of e ...

and research organization, founded in London in 1862. It is believed to be the oldest such organization in the world, though its history has not been continuous. The club still investigates mainly ghosts and hauntings.

History

1862 establishment

The club has its roots in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge becam ...

in 1855, where

fellows Fellows may refer to Fellow, in plural form. Fellows or Fellowes may also refer to: Places *Fellows, California, USA *Fellows, Wisconsin, ghost town, USA Other uses *Fellows Auctioneers, established in 1876. *Fellowes, Inc., manufacturer of works ...

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

began to discuss

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

s and

psychic phenomena A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

.Peter Underwood (1978) "Dictionary of the Supernatural", Harrap Ltd., London, , p. 144 Launched officially in London in 1862, it counted

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

among its members. One of the club's earliest investigations was of the Davenport brothers and their "spirit cabinet"

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

, the club challenging the Davenports' claim of contacting the dead. The group continued to undertake practical investigations of

spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) b ...

phenomena, a topic then in vogue, meeting to discuss ghostly subjects. The Ghost Club dissolved in the 1870s following the death of Dickens.

1882 revitalisation

The club was revived on

All Saints Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...

1882 by the medium

Stainton Moses William Stainton Moses (1839 – 5 September 1892) was an English cleric and spiritualist medium. He promoted spirit photography and automatic writing, and co-founded what became the College of Psychic Studies. He resisted scientific examina ...

and

Alaric Alfred Watts Alaric Alfred Watts (18 February 1825 – 1901), best known as A. A. Watts, was a British government clerk, spiritualist and writer. He was educated at University College School and worked as a clerk at the Inland Revenue Office. He was the son of ...

, initially claiming to be the original founders, without acknowledging its origins. In 1882, 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 ...

(SPR), with whom there was an initial overlap, was founded at a similar time. While the SPR was a body devoted to scientific study, the Ghost Club remained a selective and secretive organization of convinced believers for whom psychic phenomena were an established fact. Stainton Moses resigned from the vice presidency of the SPR in 1886 and thereafter devoted himself to the Ghost Club. Membership was small (82 members over 54 years) and women were not allowed, but during this period it attracted some of the most original and controversial minds in psychical research. These included Sir

William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing ...

Sir

Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Hertz's proof and at his ...

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 ...

and Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

. The archives of the Club reveal that the names of members, both living and dead, were solemnly recited each November 2. Each individual, living or dead, was recognized a member of the Club. On more than one occasion deceased members were believed to have made their presence felt. Also involved were the poet

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

(joined 1911) and

Frederick Bligh Bond Frederick Bligh Bond (30 June 1864 – 8 March 1945), generally known by his second given name ''Bligh'', was an English architect, illustrator, archaeologist and psychical researcher. Early life Bligh Bond was the son of the Rev. Frederick Ho ...

(joined 1925), who became infamous with his investigations into spiritualism at

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

. Bligh Bond later left the country and became active in 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 ...

. He was ordained into the

Old Catholic Church The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches or Old Catholic movement designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the undivide ...

and re-joined the Ghost Club on his return to Britain in 1935. The Principal of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes f ...

, Arthur Grey, fictionalized the Ghost Club in 1919 as "The Everlasting Club" in a ghost story that many still believe to be true.

Early 20th century

The 20th century's move from

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 ...

room investigation to laboratory-based research meant the Ghost Club fell out of touch with contemporary psychic research.

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 ...

, famous for his investigation into

Borley Rectory Borley Rectory was a house famous for being described as "the most haunted house in England" by psychic researcher Harry Price. Built in 1862 to house the rector of the parish of Borley and his family, it was badly damaged by fire in 1939 and ...

, joined as a member in 1927 as did psychologist

who represented the changing approach to psychical research taking place. With attendance falling, the club closed in 1936 after 485 meetings. The Ghost Club records were deposited in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

under the proviso that they would remain closed until 1962 out of respect for confidentiality. Within 18 months, Price relaunched the Ghost Club as a society dining event where psychic researchers and mediums delivered after-dinner talks. Price decided to admit women to the club, also specifying that it was not a spiritualist church or association but a group of sceptics that gathered to discuss paranormal topics. Members in this period included , Sir

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. ...

Algernon Blackwood Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary cri ...

, Sir

Osbert Sitwell Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE (6 December 1892 – 4 May 1969) was an English writer. His elder sister was Edith Sitwell and his younger brother was Sacheverell Sitwell. Like them, he devoted his life to art and li ...

and Lord Amwell. Following Price's death in 1948, the club was again relaunched by members of the committee, Philip Paul and

Peter Underwood Peter George Underwood, (10 October 1937 – 7 July 2014) was an Australian jurist and the Governor of Tasmania from 2008 until his death in 2014. He was the Chief Justice of Tasmania from 2004 to 2008, having been a judge of the Supreme Cour ...

. From 1962 Underwood served as President; many accounts of club activities are found in his books. Tom Perrott joined the club in 1967 and served as Chairman from 1971 to 1993. In 1993, the club underwent a period of internal disruption, during which Underwood left to become Life President of another society he had revived called "The Ghost Club Society".

Recent history

In 1998, Perrott resigned as chairman (although he remained active in club affairs), and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

Alan Murdie was elected as his successor. Murdie has written a number of ghost books including ''Haunted

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

'' and regularly writes for ''

Fortean Times ''Fortean Times'' is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing (from 1991 to 2001), I Feel Good Publishing (2001 to 2005), Dennis Publishing (2005 to 2 ...

''. In 2005 he was succeeded by Kathy Gearing, the club's first female chairperson. Gearing announced her resignation in the club's Summer 2009 newsletter.Alan Murdie is currently again the club chairman. The club continues to meet monthly at a pub in central London. Several investigations are performed in England every year. In recent times, investigations have also been organised in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

by the club's Scottish Area Investigation Coordinator.

Notable members

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

* Sir

, CBE * Robert Aickman * Sir

* Air Chief Marshal

Lord Dowding Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, (24 April 1882 – 15 February 1970) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally c ...

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...

* C. E. M. Joad *

Donald Campbell Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

* Sir

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yeats Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a British writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s. His Gregory Sallust series w ...

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...

Maurice Grosse Maurice Grosse (6 March 1919 – 14 October 2006) was a British paranormal investigator. Famous for his involvement in the Enfield Poltergeist case from 1977 to 1979, he has been portrayed in several films and television series, including ''The ...

, investigator of the

Enfield Poltergeist The Enfield poltergeist was a claim of supernatural activity at 284 Green Street, a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, London, England, United Kingdom, between 1977 and 1979. The alleged poltergeist activity centred around sisters Janet (11) ...

* Colonel John Blashford-Snell, OBE * The Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe *

Lynn Picknett Lynn Picknett is a writer of books that are mainly about pseudo-religious history and popular conspiracy theories, the paranormal, the occult, and historical and religious mysteries. Life Born in Folkestone, Kent, England, in April 1947, Pickne ...

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

Geoff Holder Geoff Holder is a British author. He has written twenty non-fiction books on the paranormal, as well as on unusual and unexplained events and objects. His works include ''The Jacobites and the Supernatural'' and ''101 Things to Do with a Stone ...

* Ciarán O'Keeffe * Leo Ruickbie

Notable investigations

* Borley Church *

Chingle Hall Chingle Hall is a grade II listed manor house in the township of Whittingham near Preston, England. History Originally, the land where Chingle Hall now stands was owned by Ughtred de Singleton from around 1066. In 1260 Adam de Singleton built ...

* The

Queen's House Queen's House is a former royal residence built between 1616 and 1635 near Greenwich Palace, a few miles down-river from the City of London and now in the London Borough of Greenwich. It presently forms a central focus of what is now the Old Ro ...

* RAF Cosford Aerospace Museum * Glamis Castle *

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Theatre * The Ancient Ram Inn in

Wotton-under-Edge Wotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058, Wotton is ab ...

* Woodchester Mansion *

Balgonie Castle Balgonie Castle is located on the south bank of the River Leven near Milton of Balgonie, east of Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland. The castle keep dates from the 14th century, and the remaining structures were added piecemeal until the 18th century ...

Ham House Ham House is a 17th-century house set in formal gardens on the bank of the River Thames in Ham, south of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The original house was completed in 1610 by Thomas Vavasour, an Elizabethan cou ...

New Lanark New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometres) from Lanark, in Lanarkshire, and some southeast of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1785 and opened in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and hou ...

Coalhouse Fort Coalhouse Fort is an artillery fort in the eastern English county of Essex. It was built in the 1860s to guard the lower Thames from seaborne attack. It stands at Coalhouse Point on the north bank of the river, at a location near East Tilbury ...

* Glasgow Royal Concert Hall *

Alloa Tower Alloa Tower in Alloa, Clackmannanshire in central Scotland is an early 14th century tower house that served as the medieval residence of the Erskine family, later Earls of Mar. Retaining its original timber roof and battlements, the tower i ...

* Scotland Street School Museum *

Michelham Priory Michelham Priory is the site of a former Augustinian Priory in Upper Dicker, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. The surviving buildings are owned and administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society and are Grade I and Grade II listed. A T ...

Culross Palace Culross Palace is a late 16th to early 17th century merchant's house in Culross, Fife, Scotland. The palace, or "Great Lodging", was constructed between 1597 and 1611 by Sir George Bruce, the Laird of Carnock. The house was mainly built in t ...

Clerkenwell House of Detention Clerkenwell (old) Prison, also known as the Clerkenwell House of Detention or Middlesex House of Detention was a prison in Clerkenwell, London, opened in 1847 and demolished in 1890. It held prisoners awaiting trial. It stood on Bowling Green ...

Bibliography

The club has been mentioned in numerous books, the most notable being ''No Common Task'' (1983), ''This Haunted Isle'' (1984), ''The Ghosthunters Almanac'' (1993) and ''Nights in Haunted Houses'' (1994), all by

, ''Some Unseen Power'' (1985) by Philip Paul, ''The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits'' (1992) by

Rosemary Ellen 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 ...

, ''Will Storr Versus the Supernatural'' (2006) by Will Storr, ''The Guide to Mysterious Glasgow'' (2009) by

, ''Ghost Hunting: a Survivor's Guide'' (2010) by John Fraser and ''A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting'' (2013) by Dr Leo Ruickbie.Leo Ruickbie (2013) ''A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting'', Constable & Robinson, London,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Club Ghosts Paranormal organizations Parapsychology Supernatural Organizations established in 1862 Clubs and societies in London 1862 establishments in England