A broad definition of psychic is: “A person who is either born with or develops many gifts or talents in the area of ESP, clairvoyance, communication with the spirit world and abilities to read the human aura, and who uses these special skills as a healer or reader.”

Modern technology, such as the internet and 900 numbers, may have increased the current interest of psychics and mediums; however the interest in such phenomena are not at all new. Psychics can be traced back thousands of years, when seers, soothsayers, shamans and occult practices were popular. The modern psychic movement can be seen in mesmerism and in the spiritualist movements.

In the early to middle 19th century in Europe there was an interest in the psychic practices. This was due, in part, to an Austrian doctor by the name of Franz Antoine Mesmer who reported “through transference of clairvoyance and ‘eyeless vision’” as well as other psychic phenomena in “mesmerized” subjects. This acceptance of mesmerism, along with its claimed healing properties led to the acceptance of the spiritualism movement of the late 19th century.

Many people of that era accepted the belief that certain people may have clairvoyant and other paranormal capabilities, especially when in a “trance” and that those people may be able to communicate with the dead. At the turn of the 20th century, psychic manifestation was generally limited to the spiritualist churches. Among the manifestations that these churches featured was a practice of communicating with the dead, a practice known as “necromancy.” However, there were many skeptics who did not believe in this phenomenon. Among them was the great magician, Harry Houdini, who claimed that paranormal activities were little more than fakery and parlor tricks.

Psychics wanted to detach spiritualism from the traditional religious area, and therefore, made an effort to discover, examine and categorize the psychic phenomena as a science. In order to achieve this, the Society for Psychic Research (SPR) was formed. In fact, the spiritualists tried to work with scholars to provide psychic phenomena scientifically. The spiritualists delved into areas of study that included thought transference, other types of telepathy, hypnotism, mesmerism, and the causes of spiritualism, and how these manifestations were discovered. However, their intentions backfired when the tests given by the SPR actually exposed more fraud than prove psychic abilities. Thus, the SPR failed in its attempt to make a compelling impact.

Some reports of fraud within the SPR circles were eventually reported to the public, which did much to thwart the attempt of the SPR to gain credibility. On top of that, much of the public acceptance of the SPR was hindered by sexual scandals. In fact, Houdini reported that female mediums frequently proposed sexual favors in exchange for complicity during his studies.

These earlier failed attempts at proving psychic phenomena do not seem to have hindered the psychic revival that has occurred during the last several decades. There has been an occasional interest throughout the past century, but not to the degree of today’s attention to the psychic phenomena. In part, modern technology can certainly be credited with reviving the popularity of the psychic interest in today’s world.