Harry Price: Ghost Hunter, Psychical Researcher, Showman, and Controversial Investigator

Harry Price was one of the most famous, colourful, and controversial figures in the history of British psychical research. A ghost hunter, author, investigator, collector, conjuring expert, media personality, and sceptical examiner of paranormal claims, Price became a household name during the 1930s and 1940s.

He investigated mediums, hauntings, spirit photography, poltergeists, fire-walking, physical mediumship, alleged demonic possession, and some of the strangest cases in paranormal history. His most famous investigation was Borley Rectory, widely publicised as “the most haunted house in England.”

Yet Price’s reputation has always been complicated. He exposed fraud, but he himself was accused of manipulation. He was fascinated by ghosts, but he also understood the methods of conjurers. He claimed to seek truth, but he also loved publicity. He brought psychical research into the public imagination, but his methods and motives have been fiercely debated.

For this reason, Harry Price remains one of the most fascinating figures in the occult and paranormal world: part investigator, part showman, part sceptic, part believer, and part mystery himself.

Early Life and Background

Harry Price was born on 17 January 1881 in London. Although he later claimed to have been born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, later research suggests that this was not true. His father was a grocer and later a travelling salesman for a paper-making firm.

Price grew up in the New Cross area of London. In later life, he often embellished or altered parts of his personal history, which makes it difficult to separate fact from self-created legend. Much of the popular story of his life was shaped by Price himself, and not all of it can be trusted.

This habit of self-mythologising would follow him throughout his career. Price did not merely investigate mysteries. He also created a public image around himself as the modern ghost hunter, armed with instruments, scepticism, theatrical flair, and an instinct for headlines.

The Haunted House Story of His Youth

Price often claimed that his first psychic experience occurred when he was only fifteen years old. According to his account, he and a friend investigated a haunted house, locked themselves inside, and waited for the ghost to appear.

They allegedly heard footsteps moving around the building, including the sound of someone stamping in clogs. When the footsteps seemed to descend and return up the staircase, Price triggered a camera flash in an attempt to capture evidence.

The result was not a ghost photograph, but an overexposed image of the staircase. The dramatic noise that followed turned out to have been caused by a pan thrown against the stairs because Price had used too much gunpowder in the flash.

The story is suspicious, and Price told it in varying ways. Still, it captures something essential about him. From the beginning, his interest in ghosts was tied to cameras, performance, experiment, risk, and the possibility of exposure. Even when the ghost did not appear, the event became part of his personal legend.

Conjuring, Fraud, and the Tools of Investigation

One of the reasons Price became important in psychical research was his knowledge of conjuring. By the time he joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1920, he was already regarded as knowledgeable about magic tricks, stage illusions, and fraudulent mediumship.

This expertise made him useful in a field troubled by deception. Physical mediumship, spirit photography, materialisations, apports, slate writing, and séance-room phenomena could all be imitated through trickery. A serious investigator needed to know how fraud might be produced.

In 1921, Price became honorary librarian of the Magic Circle, an organisation devoted to conjuring and magical performance. This connection placed him in a world where deception was not only studied, but refined as an art.

Price therefore approached the paranormal from a double perspective. He was fascinated by genuine possibilities, but he also knew that human beings could fake extraordinary things.

The William Hope Spirit Photography Case

One of Price’s first major psychical investigations involved William Hope, a spirit photographer who claimed to produce photographs of the dead.

Spirit photography was extremely popular in Spiritualist circles, especially among those grieving lost loved ones. A sitter might pose for a photograph and later see a faint image of a deceased relative or spirit figure appearing beside them. To believers, this was evidence of survival after death. To sceptics, it was easily open to fraud.

The Society for Psychical Research sent Price to investigate Hope partly because of his knowledge of conjuring and trick photography. Price claimed that he exposed fraud by demonstrating that photographic plates had been manipulated.

However, the case was not simple. Hope’s defenders accused Price himself of tampering with the plates. Hard evidence one way or another was never fully established, and the incident became an early example of the ambiguity surrounding Price’s career.

Was he exposing fraud, or manufacturing exposure? The question would return in later controversies.

Willi Schneider and Physical Mediumship

In 1922, Price travelled to Munich with Eric Dingwall to observe Willi Schneider, one of the Schneider brothers, who were known for physical mediumship. Schneider’s séances reportedly included rappings and the movement of objects without physical contact.

These sittings took place in the laboratory of Baron Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, a major figure in the study of physical mediumship. Price and Dingwall were impressed by what they observed and signed a statement to that effect.

Price later said that Schneider had made him realise that not all physical phenomena could be explained away as deception or self-deception. This is important because Price was not merely a debunker. He wanted to expose fraud, but he also remained open to the possibility that some phenomena might be genuine.

This uneasy balance between scepticism and belief shaped his entire career.

Stella C. and Psychokinetic Experiments

Another important figure in Price’s early investigations was Dorothy Stella Cranshaw, also known as Stella C. Price met her on a train and became interested in her claim that she possessed psychokinetic abilities.

He arranged a series of séances with Stella at the London Spiritualist Alliance. The sittings appeared to produce successful results, but they also placed Price in a difficult position. His conjuring friends felt he had become too sympathetic to Spiritualism, while the Society for Psychical Research distrusted his association with Spiritualist circles.

A second series of sittings began at the SPR in late 1923, but Stella soon withdrew, saying that the sessions drained too much time and energy from her.

The Stella C. case shows Price’s attraction to physical phenomena. He was interested not only in voices, apparitions, or messages from the dead, but also in the possibility that the human mind might affect matter.

The National Laboratory for Psychical Research

Price gave his growing collection of books to the Society for Psychical Research on permanent loan in 1922. Some have interpreted this as an attempt to gain influence within the organisation. Whether that was his intention or not, Price soon became frustrated with what he saw as the SPR’s bias against physical mediumship.

In 1926, he founded his own organisation, the National Laboratory for Psychical Research. This allowed him to pursue investigations under his own authority and on his own terms.

At first, the laboratory was based in the quarters of the London Spiritualist Alliance, now associated with the College of Psychic Studies. This location put him in contact with Spiritualist circles, but it also created tension. Price’s habit of exposing fraudulent mediums did not always sit well with Spiritualists.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a passionate defender of Spiritualism, became a particular source of irritation for Price. The relationship between sceptical investigation and Spiritualist belief remained strained.

The R-101 Case and Eileen J. Garrett

After Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930, Price arranged sittings with the medium Eileen J. Garrett in an effort to communicate with him. Messages were reportedly received from Doyle, but the more significant communications concerned the R-101 airship disaster.

The R-101 was a British dirigible that crashed in France in 1930. During Garrett’s trance sessions, communications allegedly came from a deceased pilot connected with the disaster. These messages appeared to contain technical details about the crash before the official report was released.

The R-101 case became one of the most famous incidents in the history of psychical research. For believers, it suggested genuine survival communication. For sceptics, it raised questions about telepathy, clairvoyance, subconscious knowledge, and chance.

For Price, it was exactly the kind of case that generated public attention and deep controversy.

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Rudi Schneider and the Great Controversy

After the death of Baron Schrenck-Notzing in 1929, Price invited Rudi Schneider, brother of Willi Schneider, to his laboratory for testing. Rudi was another famous physical medium, and his séances attracted intense interest from psychical researchers.

Price conducted several series of experiments with Rudi in 1929, 1930, and 1932. The results appeared successful, and Rudi was also tested favourably by others.

Then, in 1933, Price created a major scandal. He claimed to have photographic evidence that Rudi had freed one arm during a séance and physically moved the handkerchief he was supposed to be affecting psychically.

To the public, this appeared to be a decisive exposure. But many of Price’s colleagues in psychical research suspected that Price himself might have manipulated the situation. Once again, he was caught in a cloud of uncertainty.

The Rudi Schneider affair damaged physical mediumship and strengthened Price’s reputation among some sceptics. But it also increased suspicion among those who already believed Price was more interested in publicity than truth.

A Master of Publicity

Harry Price understood the media better than many of his contemporaries. He knew how to create public interest, frame a story, and turn a paranormal investigation into a headline.

This made him famous, but it also made him suspect. Psychical research was already a controversial field, and Price’s theatrical instincts did not always help its credibility.

He did not hide from public attention. He embraced it. Whether he was testing mediums, investigating haunted houses, examining fire-walkers, exposing fraud, or studying bizarre claims, Price knew how to make the public look.

This ability made him a powerful figure in the popularisation of paranormal investigation. At the same time, it raised a serious question: was Price primarily a researcher, or was he a showman?

The most honest answer may be that he was both.

The Goat Transformation Ritual

One of Price’s most ridiculed adventures occurred in 1932, when he travelled to the Harz Mountains in Germany to test a 15th-century magical spell that supposedly could transform a goat into a handsome young man.

The test failed, unsurprisingly, and Price was mocked for taking part in the ritual at all. Yet the incident reveals something about his approach to the paranormal. He was willing to investigate claims that many others would have dismissed outright.

To Price, even absurd claims could be tested. To his critics, this made him look foolish. To the public, it made him entertaining. To occult historians, it shows the blurred line between serious investigation, folklore, magical curiosity, and publicity stunt.

The Talking Mongoose of Cashen’s Gap

Another strange case investigated by Price was the alleged talking mongoose at Cashen’s Gap on the Isle of Man. The creature, known as Gef, was said to speak, throw objects, interact with the family, and display unusual intelligence.

Price investigated the case with R. S. Lambert and later co-authored The Haunting of Cashen’s Gap. The case remains one of the strangest in paranormal literature.

Was Gef a hoax, a poltergeist, a trick, an animal mystery, a psychological phenomenon, or a genuine anomaly? Price did not resolve the mystery in a way that satisfied everyone.

The case suited Price perfectly. It was bizarre, public, controversial, and impossible to categorise neatly.

Fire-Walking and Other Investigations

Price investigated a wide variety of paranormal and unusual claims, including fire-walking, Indian rope tricks, mediumship, poltergeists, spirit photography, and alleged demonic possession.

In 1936, he reported on experimental fire-walks. Fire-walking was often presented as a feat of mystical power, but investigators attempted to determine whether it could be explained by physical conditions, preparation, or psychological factors.

Price’s interest in such cases shows that he was not limited to ghosts. He was interested in the entire borderland between the extraordinary and the explainable.

His work repeatedly asked: is this phenomenon supernatural, psychological, fraudulent, misinterpreted, or genuinely unknown?

The Ghost Club

In 1938, Price revitalised the Ghost Club in London, one of the oldest organisations devoted to ghostly investigation. The original Ghost Club had been founded in the 19th century and was associated with literary, spiritual, and investigative interest in hauntings.

Under Price’s influence, the Ghost Club gained renewed attention. His involvement helped connect the older world of ghost stories and Spiritualist curiosity with the newer public image of the scientific ghost hunter.

For Price, the Ghost Club was another platform. It allowed him to gather interest, encourage discussion, and strengthen his identity as Britain’s leading ghost hunter.

Borley Rectory: The Most Haunted House in England

Harry Price is best known for his investigation of Borley Rectory in Essex, which he famously presented as “the most haunted house in England.”

Borley Rectory had a long reputation for strange activity, including apparitions, footsteps, bell-ringing, mysterious writings, unexplained sounds, and poltergeist-like disturbances. Price first became involved in 1929 and continued his association with the case for many years.

He wrote two popular books about the case: The Most Haunted House in England and The End of Borley Rectory. These works made Borley famous and turned it into one of the most widely discussed hauntings in British history.

The case was ideal for Price. It contained ghostly legends, physical disturbances, witnesses, dramatic atmosphere, and a perfect title. Borley became not only an investigation, but a cultural phenomenon.

The Borley Controversy

After Price’s death, Borley Rectory became the centre of intense criticism. Eric Dingwall, K. M. Goldney, and Trevor Hall published a critical examination of the case, arguing that the evidence had been exaggerated, misrepresented, or manipulated.

Some critics claimed that there was little or nothing genuinely paranormal about Borley. Others suspected that Price had helped create or encourage certain phenomena. Given the suspicions surrounding other parts of his career, such accusations could not be dismissed lightly.

Yet Borley remains powerful in the paranormal imagination. Even if Price’s methods were flawed, the case helped define the modern haunted house investigation.

The Borley controversy is also a warning. A haunting can become famous not only because of evidence, but because of storytelling, publicity, expectation, and belief.

Price and the University of London

Price long wanted his work to be taken seriously by academic institutions. In 1933, he offered his library to the University of London. The offer was accepted in principle, and in 1934 a University Council for Psychical Investigation was established.

By 1937, the university provided office space for the council and made room for Price’s books and laboratory equipment.

This was a significant achievement. Price had spent years trying to establish credibility for his work, and university association gave his library and research activities a level of institutional recognition.

However, his relationship with academia did not erase the controversies surrounding him. Price remained both respected and distrusted, admired and accused.

The Harry Price Library

Price claimed that his library contained around 20,000 volumes. After his death, the University of London assessed it and found that it contained about half that number. Even so, the collection remained important.

Today, the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature is housed at the University of London. It preserves works on magic, conjuring, Spiritualism, psychical research, and related subjects.

In some ways, this library may be Price’s most enduring legacy. Whatever one thinks of his investigations, he helped collect and preserve material that remains valuable to students of occult history, magic, and paranormal research.

Price as Author

Harry Price was a prolific writer. His books helped bring psychical research, hauntings, and paranormal investigation to a wide audience.

His works include Search for Truth: My Life for Psychical Research, Confessions of a Ghost Hunter, The Most Haunted House in England, The End of Borley Rectory, Fifty Years of Psychical Research, Poltergeist Over England, Stella C., Rudi Schneider, The Haunting of Cashen’s Gap, and many others.

His writing was popular, vivid, and accessible. It was not always reliable, but it was compelling. Price knew how to tell a ghost story in the language of investigation.

That combination made him famous. It also makes him difficult to assess.

Was Harry Price a Fraud?

The question of fraud follows Harry Price everywhere. He exposed fraud, yet was accused of it. He investigated mediums, yet was suspected of staging evidence. He criticised deception, yet manipulated his own biography.

Some accusations against Price may have been exaggerated. Others may have real substance. The truth is likely complicated.

What seems clear is that Price was not a neutral, invisible investigator. He shaped the cases he entered. His presence changed the atmosphere. His desire for public attention influenced how investigations were presented.

This does not mean that every case he investigated was false. It does mean that his work must be read carefully. Harry Price is not a simple authority to be trusted without question. He is a historical figure to be studied critically.

Harry Price and the Modern Ghost Hunter

Despite all controversy, Price helped create the image of the modern ghost hunter. He used cameras, instruments, controlled tests, public reports, and media coverage. He investigated famous haunted houses, questioned mediums, and tried to bring paranormal phenomena into the language of experiment.

Today’s ghost-hunting culture, with its equipment, night investigations, public fascination, sceptical language, and dramatic presentation, owes something to Price.

He helped move ghost investigation out of private séance rooms and into newspapers, laboratories, universities, clubs, and public debate.

For that reason alone, his influence is enormous.

The Double Legacy of Harry Price

Harry Price’s legacy is double-edged. On one hand, he exposed fraudulent mediums, popularised psychical research, collected important books, investigated famous cases, and kept public attention focused on paranormal inquiry.

On the other hand, he exaggerated his own life, courted publicity, became entangled in accusations of fraud, and left behind investigations that remain deeply disputed.

He was neither a pure sceptic nor a simple believer. He was neither entirely trustworthy nor easily dismissed. He was a liminal figure, standing between conjuring and research, ghost hunting and theatre, evidence and performance.

This is why he remains so compelling. Harry Price was not only an investigator of haunted houses. He became a haunted figure himself, surrounded by questions that refuse to rest.

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Harry Price’s life shows how complex the study of ghosts and psychic phenomena can be. Behind every haunted house lies a web of witnesses, belief, fear, evidence, scepticism, fraud, folklore, and genuine mystery.

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See Also

• Borley Rectory
• Cashen’s Gap
• College of Psychic Studies
• Eileen J. Garrett
• Eleonore Zugun
• Eric Dingwall
• Ghost Club
• Ghost Hunters and Ghost Investigators
• Hauntings
• Harry Price Library
• Indian Rope Trick
• Mediumship
• National Laboratory for Psychical Research
• Poltergeists
• Psychical Research
• R-101 Case
• Rudi Schneider
• Schneider Brothers
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Society for Psychical Research
• Spirit Photography
• Stella C.
• William Hope

FURTHER READING:

• Dingwall, Eric, K. M. Goldney, and Trevor Hall. The Haunting of Borley Rectory. London: Duckworth, 1956.
• Gregory, A. The Strange Case of Rudi Schneider. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1985.
• Hall, Trevor. Search for Harry Price. London: Duckworth, 1978.
• Inglis, Brian. Science and Parascience: A History of the Paranormal, 1914–1939. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1984.
• Price, Harry. Search for Truth: My Life for Psychical Research. London: Pall Mall, 1942.
• Tabori, Paul. Harry Price: The Biography of a Ghost Hunter. London: Atheneum, 1950.

SOURCES:

• The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits– Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – September 1, 2007
• The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning