W. J. Crawford

1881-1920

          LECTURER IN mechanical engineering in The Municipal Technical Institute, Belfast and Extra-Mural Lecturer in Queens University, Belfast, whose painstaking and thorough investigations with the Kathleen Goligher Circle between 1917 and 1920 go some way towards discovering the 'psychic' laws behind telekinesis phenomena. The Goligher family consisted of four daughters, a son and a son-in-law, and although very poor did not accept any payment for four years.

Crawford's conclusions are summed up in three important books: The Reality of Psychic Phenomena (1916); Experiments in Psychic Science (1919); and The Psychic Structures in the Goligher Circle (1921). Sir William Barrett wrote on March 24, 1917:

"I can testify to the genuineness and amazing character of these physical manifestations and also to the patient care and skill which have characterised Dr. Crawford's long and laborious investigations." 

Tragically though, Dr. Crawford committed suicide on July 30 1920. Towards the last days of his life his mental health had deteriorated and he feared the onset of insanity. Four days before his death, he wrote:

"I have been struck down mentally. I was perfectly all right up to a few weeks ago. It is not the psychic work. I enjoyed it too well. I am thankful to say that the work will stand. It is too thoroughly done for any material loopholes to be left."

Articles by W. J. Crawford on this website:

Contact Phenomena

Direct-Voice Phenomena

24 Questions and Answers on Experiments in Psychical Science

Source (with minor modifications): An Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science by Nandor Fodor (1934).