"SIGMUND FREUD VERSUS SPR"
It was his interest in sleepwalking that put the
father of Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud in relation with the Society for
Psychical Research. One night Sir William Barrett was walking on the sidewalk
after leaving a pub in Soho when he crashed into a man who walked with his eyes
closed and arms outstretched. The man woke up at that moment, and a few meters
behind him Barret heard a voice grumbling and complaining. It was Freud, who was
following one of his patients in order to discover where he went every night after
leaving home in a state of somnambulism. At the advice of Freud, the man’s wife did not
dare to stop him. And precisely that night Freud had decided to find out where
his patient was going every night. (Later it was discovered that his
destination was the same tavern that Barret frequented and that sleepwalking was
just a stratagem of the man to escape from home at night without his wife
preventing him from doing so.) Barret apologized and offered Freud his card
with the SPR emblem. Freud was openly skeptical about the topic of research of
the Society, and Barret was quick to invite him to attend one of their weekly
seances. Freud accepted reluctantly, and that same Friday he appeared at the
headquarters of the SPR where he was kindly received by its president Sir Henry
Sidgwick. Both great men had a small talk during which Freud made it clear that
any paranormal phenomenon should be interpreted either as a symptom of sexual repression
or of an exacerbated sexuality. For him that explained everything: the
poltergeist, the haunted houses, the flying saucers, the vampirism, the
anti-vampirism, the ghosts, the Loch Ness Monster, the Abominable Snowman and
even the fairies and the goblins. Sidgwick insinuated that his position was a
bit reductionist, which infuriated Freud who gave him a strong kick in the
shin. Upon hearing the exclamations of pain from Sidgwick, the rest of the
members of the Society -who were preparing the seance for the evening- came
quickly to his aid. Sidgwick played down the importance of the incident and
introduced Freud to his colleagues. While these awaited the arrival of the
medium, Freud occupied himself with stalking them when they went to the
restroom and with giving them a fright when they were off-guard. During the
seance, the medium had to tell off Freud on several occasions because he
launched giggles and mocking comments continuously. When the medium finally
achieved silence, she summoned her spirit guide and asked him to make a demonstration.
In that instant (as recorded in the archives of the SPR) a guitar that rested
on a sofa rose and flew through the air to unload such a blow on the head of
Freud that he fell to the ground senseless. Immediately the seance was
interrupted and Freud received the appropriate cures. Late at night and with bandaged
head, Freud left the headquarters of the SPR railing against their members with
which he did not keep any further contact. But he always kept the ungrateful
memory of that guitar thump, which he always brought up when asked about his
experience with musical art.
A donation for needy children in exchange for this story? Click on this link to Unicef. I really appreciate it!
Comments
Post a Comment