James Hewat McKenzie

James Hewat McKenzie (1869–1929) was a British parapsychologist, and the founder of the British College of Psychic Science. McKenzie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 11 November 1869 and died on 29 August 1929, in London.

Biography

Through years of study and experimentation with hypnotists and mediums, Mckenzie wrote what is considered his main work, Spirit Intercourse: Its Theory and Practice in 1917. A number of pamphlets on the related topics also bear his name including his 1917 work If a Soldier Die in and Personal Experiences in Spiritualism 1920. He devoted his time to helping spiritual mediums develop their abilities. Such mediums included Gladys Osborne Leonard, Franek Kluski, Maria Silbert and Eileen J. Garrett.

British College of Psychic Science

The British College of Psychic Science was founded in April 1920 in London by McKenzie and his wife to study psychical phenomena, similar to the Institut Métapsychique International in Paris. In December 1938 the college merged with the International Institute for Psychical Research, becoming the Institute for Experimental Metaphysics. During World War II the institute closed, and in 1947 all of its library and records were destroyed.

Harry Houdini

In his book Spirit Intercourse: Its Theory and Practice, McKenzie claimed the magician Harry Houdini's feats such as being able to unbolt locked doors and escape from handcuffs were the result of psychic power. McKenzie also claimed in his book that Houdini had the power to materialize and dematerialize objects and other stage mentalists such as Anna Eva Fay and Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers. Houdini referred to this as "one of the most, if not the most flagrant instances of mal-observation" and in his book Magician Among the Spirits wrote a response to McKenzie "I do claim to free myself from the restraint of fetters and confinement, but positively state that I accomplish my purpose purely by physical, not psychical means. The force necessary to "shot a bolt within a lock," is drawn from Houdini the living human being and not a medium. My methods are perfectly natural, resting on natural laws of physics."

Publications Spirit Intercourse: Its Theory and Practice (1917)