In February 2007 I reported the sad news that Dr Ian Stevenson had passed away, aged 88. Known mainly for his perplexing case studies offering tentative evidence for reincarnation, Dr Stevenson was a pioneering and influential researcher in various ‘fringe’ fields, from parapsychology through to investigations of near-death experiences (he first wrote about the latter phenomenon in 1959, some 16 years before it was brought to prominence by Raymond Moody in Life After Life).
A year after Dr Stevenson’s passing, the Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE) devoted an entire issue to reflections and commentaries on his influence in a multitude of research fields – a fitting tribute, given his almost 50 years of exploring these topics, not to mention the fact that he was one of the founders of the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE). The line-up of contributors to this special issue is first-class, a veritable who’s who of ‘heretical science’ researchers: Stephen Braude, Carlos Alvarado, Alan Gauld, Bruce Greyson, Peter Sturrock, Jim Tucker…the list goes on.
The cool thing is: you can now read this issue online (along with the previous 20 issues of JSE) for free! Head on over to the JSE page at the Society’s website and you’ll find downloadable PDFs of each article – absolutely top shelf stuff, I highly recommend a browse. You’ll come away with not only a better understanding of a few of these fields (parapsychology, NDEs, reincarnation, etc), but a real respect for the life work of Dr Ian Stevenson.
To read more recent articles of JSE, and to receive a hardcopy of each issue, join the Society for Scientific Exploration.
Previously on TDG:
