Richard Hodgson chaired the Society for Psychical Research's own committee investigating phenomena connected with the Theosophical Society, and this 1885 report in the Society's Proceedings is that committee's official findings. Its strength is that it is a contemporary, documented investigation by a body founded specifically to examine such claims rigorously, and its conclusion, rejecting the phenomena as fraudulent, was influential in the Theosophical Society's own history. Its limit is that it is the investigating committee's own report rather than independent scholarly analysis conducted outside that investigation, and later historians have debated some of Hodgson's specific methods, so a claim resting on a disputed detail should be checked against that later historical assessment.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Published in the Society for Psychical Research's own Proceedings, Richard Hodgson and the Society's committee's official contemporary investigative findings, treated at the top tier as that primary institutional investigative record. NotesThe Society for Psychical Research's own committee report, chaired by Richard Hodgson, investigating phenomena connected with the Theosophical Society (1885), published in the Society's Proceedings; the committee's official findings, not independent scholarly analysis produced outside the investigation.
Citation
AuthorRichard Hodgson and the Committee of the Society for Psychical Research
PublisherProceedings of the Society for Psychical Research
Publication Year1885
Source Typepeer-reviewed article
Claims Backed By This Source (24 claims)
This source backs 24 claims across the atlas. As facts: 15 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 2 holds, 1 critiqued Here. Plus 4 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Studies, 6 claims: 3 well-attested, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Historical Figures, 4 claims: 2 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 general references.
- Articles, 3 claims: 3 well-attested.
- Doctrines, 2 claims: 1 scholarly debate, 1 general references.
- Organizations, 2 claims: 1 critiqued Here, 1 general references.
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