What or what is the Ghost Club?
The Ghost Club of London is the oldest existing organization devoted to paranormal investigation and psychic research. The Ghost Club began in 1862, being founded in order to expose fraudulent psychics and mediums. The Ghost Club over time attracted well-known celebrities, such as author Charles Dickens. The group found commonality in debunking charlatans that arose during the Spiritualist Movement.
Being secretive, the Ghost Club demanded attendance to meetings by its members. Membership in the Ghost Club was considered to be eternal, even after death. Hence, their motto is (Nasci; Laborare; Mori; Nasci) "Be born, work, die, be born."
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An old interview with famous ghost investigator, Harry Price, member of the Ghost Club...
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Harry Price addresses the Ghost Club...
The Ghost Club is said to have gone inactive, but was restored in 1882 on All Soul's Day. The holiday was officially designated for celebration by the group that same year. They did so by reciting all members of the Ghost Club, alive and dead. The Ghost Club became very active as a private club of 82 men. During this time and up until about 1936, the Ghost Club was made up of many prominent researchers in paranormal investigation, such as Harry Price, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, William Butler Yeats, William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Barrett, Nandor Fodor among others.
By 1938, the Ghost Club disbanded, but re-opened the same year through Harry Price, who changed the organization to allow women. He also extended membership to 500 people. Price sought for the group to be made up of highly-skeptical people, who simply had an interest in discussing the paranormal.
After Harry Price's death in 1948, the Ghost Club fell apart once again. It would not be until 1954, through the efforts of Peter Underwood, that the Ghost Club was resurrected. Today, like yesteryear, its members primarily hail from England, but does include some members from around the world. The group prides itself in allowing various beliefs within its members. Members pursue their own investigations, as the Ghost Club does not undertake investigations on its own. It is simply a unique group of people assembled for discussion of ideas and theories.
In the 1990's, prominent ghost investigator Peter Underwood departed the Ghost Club and formed the Ghost Club Society in 1993, being unhappy with the former club's direction. The Ghost Club Society was founded upon the original ghost society founded in Cambridge in 1851, which predated and inspired the Ghost Club's original formation.
The Ghost Club Society goes back to its roots by primarily gaining members through invitation only. Differing from the Ghost Club, the Ghost Club Society members investigate prominent haunted locations together. As of this writing, the Ghost Club Society is either defunct, or very covert in its operations.