Major activities


1 Research


An ongoing project focuses on George Albert Smith (1864-1959).  Smith played significant roles, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in both the Society for Psychical Research (as hypnotist, secretary and paranormal investigator), and in the early film business (as a filmmaker and the inventor of Kinemacolor).  In addition, he ran a pleasure garden – St Ann’s Well, in Hove – was a stage hypnotist, and a magic lantern lecturer.  My research aims to bring together as much information about Smith as possible, and situate it within the cultural context of the period.  I would be pleased to hear about any unpublished material (letters, documents, photographs etc) relating to Smith, or information concerning surviving relatives.  Any help will be gratefully acknowledged.


2 The Society for Psychical Research


I am the SPR’s Communications Officer, and as well as managing enquiries received through the website (www.spr.ac.uk) I manage the SPR's Facebook page: ‘The Society for Psychical Research (SPR)’ and Twitter feeds @SPR1882 (general) and @psiencyclopedia (the SPR’s Psi Encyclopedia).  I am happy to promote relevant items of interest on the Society’s social media outlets.


3 Writing


As my bibliography shows, my interests range across (but are not limited to) historical aspects of psychical research and Spiritualism, literary fiction, particularly in translation, detective fiction, film, photography, the nineteenth century, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and central and eastern Europe, particularly Romania.  I am always pleased to hear from authors and publishers.


You can contact me at: tom.ruffles@yahoo.co.uk


(Last updated 9 April 2020)