Seybert Commission - The Report

The Report

The Commission published a report in 1887 entitled Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism In Accordance with the Request of the Late Henry Seybert, in which it expressed:

"...our regret that thus far we have not been cheered in our investigations by the discovery of a single novel fact; but, undeterred by this discouragement, we trust with your permission to continue them with what thoroughness our future opportunities may allow, and with minds as sincerely and honestly open, as heretofore, to conviction."

The report was published by J.B. Lippincott, and angrily denounced by Spiritualists. There proved to be no sentiment for the Commission's continued existence, and it quietly disbanded.

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