Afterlife Research: Spiritual Animal Magnetism and the Beginning of a Scientific Culture
Bastiaan van Rijn
Aug 2026 · BRILL
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268
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About this ebook
The open access publication of this book was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
From lunar spirit travels to prospective hospital studies, Afterlife Research traces the efforts of individuals and groups in the West who, since the late nineteenth century, have sought to investigate life after death scientifically. This book reconstructs a distinctive “scientific culture” that extends from spiritual animal magnetism in the late eighteenth century through Spiritualism, Spiritism, psychical research, reincarnation research, and contemporary near-death experience research. Focusing on three mid-nineteenth-century spiritual animal magnetizers—Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, George Bush, and Petrus Jacobus Siemelink—the book explores the recurring problems and shared solutions that have shaped afterlife research over the past two centuries.
From lunar spirit travels to prospective hospital studies, Afterlife Research traces the efforts of individuals and groups in the West who, since the late nineteenth century, have sought to investigate life after death scientifically. This book reconstructs a distinctive “scientific culture” that extends from spiritual animal magnetism in the late eighteenth century through Spiritualism, Spiritism, psychical research, reincarnation research, and contemporary near-death experience research. Focusing on three mid-nineteenth-century spiritual animal magnetizers—Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, George Bush, and Petrus Jacobus Siemelink—the book explores the recurring problems and shared solutions that have shaped afterlife research over the past two centuries.
The open access publication of this book was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
From lunar spirit travels to prospective hospital studies, Afterlife Research traces the efforts of individuals and groups in the West who, since the late nineteenth century, have sought to investigate ...
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About the author
Bastiaan van Rijn is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He has published on spiritual animal magnetism and various aspects of contemporary spirituality such as angel narratives and reality shifting.
Bastiaan van Rijn is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He has published on spiritual animal magnetism and various aspects of contemporary spirituality such as angel narratives and reality shifting.
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