Philosophy:Hodgson Report

Short description: 1885 report by the Society for Psychical Research

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}} Report of the committee appointed to investigate phenomena connected with the Theosophical Society, commonly called the Hodgson Report was an 1885 report by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) on Helena Blavatsky and purportedly apported Mahatma Letters.

History

Richard Hodgson, a member of the SPR and a research worker of paranormal phenomena, was sent to India. Hodgson's task was to examine if the mode of appearance attributed to the Mahatma Letters represented genuine psychical phenomena. In December 1884 Hodgson arrived in Adyar. He eventually concluded that the evidence supported Emma Coulomb, and that various inconsistencies, misrepresentations, and provable falsehoods in sworn statements by certain Theosophical Society members destroyed their credibility. He included in his research examination of the physical spaces where phenomena had been reported, including architectural features that had been concealed or removed from their original placements. Hodgson wrote a 200-page report, in which Blavatsky was described "as one of the most accomplished, ingenious, and interesting impostors in history."

The report considers at length if letters from Blavatsky provided by the Coulombs as evidence for fraudulent activity were genuinely from her hand, the consistency and credibility of various people who claimed to have witnessed psychic phenomena that occurred through Blavatsky, possible methods by which many purported phenomena might have been humanly produced, and references to various accounts of these phenomena as they had been published or circulated in public knowledge. The Hodgson report is detailed and contains extensive appendices.

Blavatsky's reputation was seriously damaged due to the Hodgson Report, and she wrote on 14 January 1886: "That Mr. Hodgson's elaborate but misdirected inquiries, his affected precision, which spends infinite patience over trifles and is blind to facts of importance, his contradictory reasoning and his manifold incapacity to deal with such problems as those he endeavoured to solve, will be exposed by other writers in due course – I make no doubt."

See also

• Coulomb Affair
• Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky

Further reading

• "Annie Besants critique of the Hodgson Report". Blavatsky Study Center. http://blavatskyarchives.com/besantspr.htm.  Transcribed from Besant, Annie (Mar 1891). "The Great Mare's Nest of the Psychical Research Society". Time (London): 193–204. 
• Coleman, William E. (1999). "Critical historical review of the Theosophical Society". Blavatsky Study Center. http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/cole1893.htm.  Transcribed from The Religio-Philosophical Journal (Chicago): 264–266. 1893-09-16. OCLC 6056674. 
• First report of the committee of the Society for Psychical Research appointed to investigate the evidence for marvellous phenomena offered by certain members of the Theosophical Society. London: National Press Agency. 1885. OCLC 230974874. https://books.google.com/books?id=0aAGAAAAQAAJ. 
• Hastings, Beatrice: Defence of Madame Blavatsky (Band 2). The Hastings press, Worthington 1937
• Hodgson, Richard. "The Theosophical Society : Russian intrigue or religious evolution?". Blavatsky Study Center. http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/hodgson11.htm.  Transcribed from The Age (South Melbourne). 1885-09-12. 
• Hodgson, Richard (1894). "The defence of the theosophists". Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (London: Society for Psychical Research) 9: 129–159. ISSN 0081-1475. https://books.google.com/books?id=BRMrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA129. 
• Hubbell, Gabriel G. (1901). Fact and fancy in spiritualism, theosophy, and psychical research. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke. OCLC 397415. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.00135232087. 
• Kingsland, William: The real H. P. Blavatsky, a study in theosophy and a memoir of a great soul. J.M. Watkins, London 1928
• Knoche, Grace F. (Jun–Jul 1997). "H. P. Blavatsky and The Society for Psychical Research". Sunrise (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press). ISSN 0562-6048. http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sunrise/46-96-7/th-sprgk.htm. 
• Sinnett, Alfred P. (1886). The "occult world phenomena" and the Society for Psychical Research. London: G. Redway. OCLC 22622155. https://archive.org/details/b30478364. 
• Solovyov, Vsevolod S. (1895). Leaf, Walter. ed. Modern priestess of Isis. London: Longmans, Green. OCLC 468865051. https://archive.org/details/amodernpriestes01britgoog. 
• Vania, K. F.: Madame H. P. Blavatsky, her occult phenomena and the society for physical research. Sat Publishing Co., Bombay 1951
• Waterman, Adlai E. (pseud. of Carrithers, Walter A.) (1963). The "Hodgson report" on Madame Blavatsky, 1885-1960 : re-examination discredits the major charges against H.P. Blavatsky. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House. OCLC 21518496.  Transcribed in "Obituary". Fresno, CA: Blavatsky Foundation. http://blavatskyfoundation.org/watermanobituary.pdf. 

External links

• Harrison, Vernon (1997). H.P. Blavatsky and the SPR : an examination of the Hodgson report of 1885 (Online ed.). Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press. http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-spr/hpbspr-h.htm. 
• "Controversies surrounding H.P. Blavatsky's work & the teachings of Theosophy". Blavatsky Study Center. 2009-04-29. http://blavatskyarchives.com/hpbcontro.htm. 
• "Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, was unjustly condemned, new study concludes" (Press release). London: The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research. 1986-05-08. Reported in "Press release of Society for Psychical Research – 1986". Blue Ridge, GA: Theosophy Foundation. http://www.blavatsky.net/index.php/9-theosophy/history/382-spr-press-release.