Abstract

In Iceland parapsychological research began in 1905 with investigations of the physical medium Indridi Indridason. Extensive contemporary reports exist on this research, some of which appeared in international journals and was presented at the first two international congresses on psychical research held in 1921 and 1923. During an extended period of controlled sessions, particularly those conducted by Hannesson, the investigators reported observing movements and levitations of furniture and the medium himself, loud raps, various odor- and light-phenomena, remote playing of musical instruments, direct voices, and strong breezes. Other investigations included one on clairvoyant dreams conducted on behalf of the Society of Psychical Research (London) by Bjarnason in which the phenomena reported around "Dreaming Joe" was investigated. Other mediumship studies were conducted, including those with Danish medium Einar Nielsen. Two poltergeists cases have also been investigated, one in the early part of the last century, and the other in the 1960s. Recent research has largely been conducted by the authors and has focused on a variety of topics including death-bed visions, national and international levels of belief in psychic phenomena, experimental work testing the relationship of perceptual defensiveness to ESP, and the psychological characteristics of children who remember previous lives.