Dr. Nandor Fodor - Famed Psychical Researcher
He Pioneered the Link between the Psychic and Psychological
Nandor Fodor was born in Berengszasz, Hungary on May 13, 1895. He studied law, took his LL.D. at the Royal Hungarian University of Science in 1917 and acted as a Law assistant until 1921. He also earned a Ph.D. He was a journalist from 1921 until 1928 when he became a psychical researcher and psychoanalyst. In addition to his contributions to psychical research, as it was called then, he was known for his ability to relate to people, compassion, enthusiasm and sense of humor.
Two Psychical Investigators Influence Fodor
While Fodor was a journalist, he met Herewood Carrington, psychical researcher, and Sandor Ferenczi, psychical researcher, psychoanalyst and one of Sigmund Freud’s associates. Carrington was his role model for an investigating the psychic. Ferenczi was the standard for his work in psychoanalysis and the psychical.
Fodor, Psychical Researcher, Work and Legacy
In 1934, the International Institute for Psychical Research, dedicated to a sympathetic and unprejudiced investigation of psychical phenomena, was founded. Fodor became the Research Officer.
He meticulously investigated poltergeists, hauntings, mediumistic transfiguration, apports, direct voice phenomenon, levitation, and materializations. Fodor wrote prolific articles about his research, edited the institute’s bulletins and authored some books. He believed that psychoanalytical theories could lead to a better understanding of psychic phenomena.
Two of Fodor's important investigations were the “Ash Manor Ghost” with the help of psychic Eileen Garrett, 1936, and the “Thornton Heath Poltergeist,” 1938. He found a link to the psychological in both and wrote about repressed sexual energy. This led to harsh criticism from the British Spiritualist press which led to Fodor’s termination from the institute in 1938.
Fodor, acting as his own attorney, sued a spiritualistic newspaper for libel written in four articles in 1939. He was awarded damages of 50 guineas each for two of the articles, which was bad publicity for Spiritualism. Although Fodor vindicated his reputation, the split between psychical researchers and Spiritualists widened.
He returned to New York, where the atmosphere was sympathetic to new ideas and psychoanalysis was accepted, renewed his career as a psychoanalyst and continued his work in psychical research.
Fodor’s Contributions to Psychical Research
Fodor wrote The Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science in the 1930s because he believed that a standard objective book was needed to present the facts about psychical research, phenomena, mediumship and history. This book is the key reference work about psychical phenomena for that era.
In addition to this tome and numerous articles, Fodor wrote the following books:
- The Haunted Mind: A Psychoanalyst Looks at the Supernatural in collaboration with Hereward Carrington
- Haunted People: The Story of rhe Poltergeist Down the Centuries
- Between Two Worlds
- On the Trail of the Poltergeist
- The Search for the Beloved: A Clinical Investigation of the Trauma of Birth and Prenatal ConditioningFreud, Jung and Occultism
- Mind Over Space
- The Unaccountable
- Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, in collaboration with Sigmund Freud and Frank Gaynor
On May 17, 1964, Dr. Fodor crossed the frontier of the unknown which he had studied and investigated for many years. His legacy is his research, theories, pioneering the interrelationship between the psychological and the psychical and the philosophy that more tolerance, less cynicism and greater respect for human nature is needed in psychical research.
Related articles:
Famous Psychoanalysts Involved with the Paranormal
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/paranormal_realm/117179
Thornton Heath Poltergeist 1938
Sources:
Between Two Worlds, Nandor Fodor, (Paperback Library Inc., 1967)
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, (Facts on File, Inc., 1992)
The Haunted Mind, Nandor Fodor, (A Signet Mystic Book, 1959)
Poltergeists toss cups and other objects
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