They are at a crossroads.
They were in the storefront of their foundation in the Greenport section of Long Island when someone knocked on the door.
Ms. Coly and her daughter were cautious. There were no appointments scheduled for their family nonprofit.
A woman walked up and said that she was interested in buying the building. She requested a tour but was told the foundation was closed.
The woman made her way to the back archive, where her grandmother's 90-year-old photos had never been seen by the public. The celebrity medium of the 20th century is featured in the photos.
The visitor left the room in a huff.
Ms. Coly said that it was highly irregular. It was not the only strange occurrence that day: lights were on when the switches were not in use, and loud electrical buzz sounds came on and off.
The appearance of rare photos could be related to these events. Some may think so. An old building and a cutthroat real estate market might be related to the ordinary problems of this mundane world.
The mother-daughter proprietors of the Parapsychology Foundation are about to lose their lease after 17 years in this location.
There is a huge archive of books, scholarly papers, photographs, letters and hundreds of videos in the Eileen J. Garrett Library that is at risk.
My grandmother used to say that she believed in the supernatural on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I don't do it on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Ms. Coly said that she felt the same way about steering a precarious nonprofit.
Ms. Coly and Ms. Damalas' financial situation highlights a fork in the cultural trajectory of the discipline because they cannot afford to buy the building in Greenport.
The term parapsychology was first used in 1889 by the German psychologist and philosopher Max Dessoir for the scientific investigation of psychic or supernatural phenomena. It pursued many of the questions that are now studied by hard sciences, but the general public misunderstands it. New science is either lost in academic echo chambers or reduced to haunted house explorations on TV.
Ms. Coly and Ms. Damalas believe that the study of the supernatural can still be useful in a contemporary way.
I have been a good soldier. I have played within the rules. Everything is changing. Ms. Coly said that we need to move with the times. She wants to grow the library and find a good home for it.
Eileen J. Garrett had a hard start. She was orphans for a couple of months after her parents died by suicide. She was raised by her aunt and uncle.
Ms. Garrett said she saw spirits, heard voices and predicted future events when she was a young girl. The British College of Psychic Studies in London was founded in the 1920s by the spiritualist James Hewat McKenzie, who she met when she moved to London.
She and Mr. McKenzie decided that she was a trance medium, rather than a more run-of-the-mill psychic.
The religious trend of the day was spiritualism. She admitted her disbelief in survival of consciousness, but she did not subscribe to the Spiritualist doctrine.
She worried that her psychic sensitivities were early signs of madness. She committed to managing her experiences and finding answers after multiple visits to psychiatrists who gave odd diagnoses, such as that her behavior was a stress response to her husband's sexual inadequacy.
Ms. Coly said that her grandmother believed that she had multiple personality, or that she was using telepathy.
Philip Corlett is a clinical researcher who is leading an N.I.M.H.funded study of clinical and nonclinical voice hearers.
Psychics did not meet diagnostic criteria for a psychotic illness after testing patients and nonclinical voice hearers.
Mr. Price was the first ghost hunter, and he was influenced by Ms. Garrett's skepticism about her psychic abilities.
The pilot of the crashed R-101 was brought through by Uvani. The information she gave about the engines being too heavy and the oil pipe being plugged caught the attention of reporters in attendance.
She moved to the US the next year and lectured for the American Society for Psychical Research.
In New York, she worked as a 9 to 5 psychic and established offices at 29 West 57th Street and attracted high-profile clients, including Aldous Huxley.
When she was a teenager, Ms. Coly helped out around her grandmother's office.
At one point, Ms. Garrett asked her granddaughter to take a drug with her and Mr. Huxley. She didn't say I was a wuss, but she tried to convince me. We can't guarantee you an easy time, but we can get you out of it eventually.
There were many willing followers of Ms. Garrett. The young administrative assistant wrote a novel under the name Patrick Dennis that was based on her.
The Parapsychology Foundation, which is the largest collection of parapsychological research in the United States and third largest in the world, was started in 1951 by Ms.
The two women supported decades of scientific and academic research with Ms. Bolton's oil money.
Ian Stevenson's examination of reincarnation and Joseph Banks Rhine's early ESP studies were funded by the United States government.
The only survivor of Ms. Coly's mother, Eileen Coly, assumed the role of president. Coly took over the presidency in 2012
Ms. Coly has served as the editor in chief of the International Journal of Parapsychology, as well as maintaining the library, providing grants and bringing back the Helix Press imprint. She has published proceedings of all of the foundation's 41 international conferences, many of which she helped coordinate over the years, featuring experts in neurobiology, dream research, ceremonial magic and areas of pharmacology.
She didn't want parapsychology talking to itself as a field.
Without Ms. Bolton's generous check writing, the foundation leads a quieter existence for a few dozen visitors a month who seek answers to what they think may be supernatural questions. Since 1977, the foundation has been able to rely on a modest endowment and occasional bequest.
The most valuable physical asset of the foundation is the library.
In 1988 the foundation moved from the 57th street address to a brownstone on East 71st street between Second and Third Avenues. The storefront rental in Greenport came about in 2005.
Ms. Coly said that people who are searching in this realm should have a physical place to go. Information should be available about the phenomena.
Ms. Coly and Ms. Damalas are rethinking how to best guide the foundation into the future. The old model was only sustainable with a rainmaker. Money is required for conferences and research to bring in enough revenue.
The quality and reputation of Ms. Coly and Ms. Damalas makes them hesitant to use flashier, income-driving models from the spiritual marketplace.
Ms. Coly said that she doesn't want to play games with the phenomena on the foundation.
Ms. Damalas is busy creating videos and listening to calls about the library's future location. The aim of the foundation has always been to serve the general public.
Ms. Coly remembers some of the calls she has taken.
Parents are worried about their children being possessed. Someone called to inquire if souls could be trapped on a plane. People need help getting through the experience. That doesn't mean sending them to a psychic on the street.
Ms. Damalas has had difficulty handling questions about the supernatural in her life. While a new area of research is exploring psychic sensitivity as a genetic inheritance, Ms. Damalas hesitates to embrace trance mediumship.
When I asked for an example, an amused Ms. Damalas shared a story about how she realized that a restaurant her family frequented on Long Island didn't have a haunted theme.
Ms. Damalas became guarded because no one else saw the atmosphere. Like her great-grandmother, she sleeps with the lights on.
She said that her materials can help people find comfort. A Soho House-like atmosphere and a membership building in the city are what I could imagine. I think that would be cool. Is it possible that I want spirits in my face? No. I don't.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
