Leonora Piper 1857–1950 was a famous trance medium and the subject of intense investigations by British and American psychic research societies. She claimed psychic experiences as early as her childhood, and was known for channeling a variety of famous and infamous entities --some in foreign tongue.
The Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1882 and is still a functioning nonprofit organization dedicated to researching "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena in a scientific and unbiased way.