After all, part of its collection on psychic phenomena and spiritualism is the source material Canadian actor and screenwriter Dan Aykroyd used as the catalyst for the 1984 blockbuster movie Ghostbusters, featuring proton pack-wearing spectre-hunters.

“I think probably the general public might be surprised to know that the basis for the film Ghostbusters — the Aykroyd family’s archives into psychical research and spiritualism — is in Winnipeg. It’s not well known,” said Walter Meyer zu Erpen, who helped transfer the materials to the U of M from Ontario.

The material was donated by Dan’s father, Peter Aykroyd, whose family was infatuated with the paranormal.

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One hundred years ago, renowned author and Spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle arrived in Winnipeg to give an illustrated lecture on the possibility of communicating with ghosts and spirits.

In the audience that night were the Winnipeg physician Thomas Glendenning Hamilton, and his wife, Lillian Hamilton, a trained nurse. The Hamiltons went on to carry out hundreds of controlled séance experiments in a séance laboratory, investigating the invisible ‘psychic’ force that they believed was evidence of personalities surviving corporeal death. These experiments resulted in a series of captivating black and white photographs which form the core of this exhibition.

The Undead Archive and the accompanying anthology, The Art of Ectoplasm, contextualize the photographs from an art historical point of view, revealing attitudes to science and religion after World War I and the 1919 pandemic.

Dr. Hamilton was a leader in psychical research during the 1930s, and his photographs were received in some international circles as scientific evidence of life after death. These uncanny images of ectoplasm had a second wave of recognition in the early 2000s after they were digitized and made available online.

A large-scale, multi-site exhibition featuring photographs, séance-related archival manuscripts, and alternative scientific documents from the Hamilton Family Fonds, alongside a host of contemporary artworks in a variety of media, The Undead Archive highlights how contemporary artists from Winnipeg and around the world have responded to these photographs.

Although physical research (studying the psychic force) is rejected by orthodox science, the Hamilton Family Fonds is still one of the most visited collections in the UM Archives and Special Collections and is the foundation for The Undead Archive exhibition.

Halloween 2020 will see the release of the completed digital archives of the Spiritualism and psychical research publication. The 1932-1967 issues were released earlier; this year the remaining 1968-2010 archives will be made available online for the first time to the public on Saturday October 31, 2020 on UM Digital Collections.

About Psychic News

Founded by British journalist Maurice Barbanell in 1932 with support from Hannen Swaffer and MJ. Arthur Findlay, the British spiritualist newspaper ran until 2010 and is now a monthly magazine, which during the current pandemic, is available in digital format only.

First page of the first issue of Psychic News published on May 28, 1932

The University of Manitoba Libraries’ Archives & Special Collection’s Psychic News digital archive comprises of 4,125 items, including special advertising supplements and book lists. Learn more about the history of Psychic News and the background of the digital archive project.  

More on the Winnipeg Connection

The University of Manitoba Libraries’ Archives & Special Collections hold the Hamilton Family fonds which includes a variety of images from séances in the Hamilton’s home on 185 Henderson Highway. Here is one example of the photographs in the collection. Pictured here are mediums (L-R) Elizabeth Poole and Mary Marshall during a séance on March 10, 1930. The man in the photo is Dr. T.G. Hamilton. 

University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Hamilton Family fonds, Group VII, #28

On August 17, 1963 Psychic News dedicated a full page to the passing of the Hamilton family’s medium, Mary Marshall stating:

“The passing of Mrs. Mary Marshall in her 83^rd year brings to a close a 30-year period of brilliant all-round mediumship made world-famous through the Canadian home circle of surgeon-psychic researcher Dr. T. Glen Hamilton of Winnipeg…”

The Hamiltons and their mediums were not the only Winnipeggers to make Psychic News. On February 20, 1954, a story appeared on “the mysterious organ music” at St. John’s Anglican Cathedral Winnipeg.

From: Psychic News, February 20, 1954, page 8

Interested to find out more?

Check out the University of Manitoba Libraries’ Archives & Special Collections’ many collections related to psychical research and spiritualism.

Comprising over 4,000 items, the Psychic News Digital Archive offers a rich source for historical study of Spiritualism and psychical research. The newspaper’s pages celebrate the history of the Spiritualist movement within the UK and internationally; while also documenting the controversy and disappointment when séance-room fraud was uncovered.

Arthur was one of a set of twins born to Thomas Glendenning (T.G.) Hamilton, now remembered less for his prominence as a Manitoba school board trustee, member of the legislature and a physician than his family’s investigation of psychic phenomena.

A previously existing interest was transformed by the tragedy into a committed investigation through séances and mediums into telekinesis, teleplasm and trance states.

The enquiry was continued past T.G.’s death by Lillian and other members of his family and the wider Winnipeg community. Hamilton House, still standing on Henderson Highway in Winnipeg, was the meeting place for a circle of Spiritualist mediums.

The Hamiltons were recognized internationally for their experiments and investigations, part of the second wave of Spiritualism that arose following the large number of deaths of the First World War.

The Hamilton family fonds held by the UM Libraries Archives & Special Collections include many photographs and document the enquiry into life after death led by T.G. in Winnipeg during the period 1918-1935.

In addition to the rich and extensive photographs and documentation of the original Hamilton donation, the Archives holds the Janice Hamilton fonds, which includes the baby books of the Hamilton twins, Arthur (1915-1918) and James (1915-1980).

Read more about the Hamilton connection or check out more of the UM Libraries Archives & Special Collections Psychical Research and Spiritual Collections.

Part 3 of the UML Archives series A Brief History of Pandemics will explore the 1957 influenza pandemic.

>>Read all of the stories in our Pandemics history series by UML Archives.

This story drew from University of Manitoba Libraries archival collections including the Hamilton Family fonds and the Janice C. Hamilton fonds.