Professor of psychology. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Flournoy taught at the University of Geneva from 1891 until 1919. In 1901 he founded the journal Archives de Psychology and wrote numerous medical and psychological works. Interested in mediumship, Flournoy became well known for his studies of Helene Smith, who while in trance narrated three distinct “dramas” in automatic writing and speaking, including “glossolalia” or “speaking with tongues.” Miss Smith first manifested these abilities in seances with a spiritistic group, passing along to its members supposed messages from the dead.
In his book Des Indes a la Planete Mars (From the Indies to the planet Mars; 1900), Flournoy recorded and analyzed the Smith “dramas,” two of them telling of her supposed past lives as a Hindu princess and as Marie Antionette. The third concerned the son of one of her seance circle’s members who had purportedly been abducted to Mars and who reported on people, language, and customs of the planet. Smith’s dramas and messages from beyond were related through her “control,” an entity named Feopold. Flournoy’s analysis saw the Marie Antionette and the Mars stories, as well as the “control” entity, as what would today be called “repressed” aspects of Mile Smith’s personality. The tale of the Hindu princess, however, was much more puzzling to Flournoy. He uncovered obscure references, from books that were apparently inaccessible to Smith, confirming persons and place names described by Smith who had, additionally, spoken Hindi phrases and written in Arabic script during her trances. Flournoy concluded that Mile Smith displayed knowledge that would be difficult if not impossible for her to acquire by normal means but rejected spiritistic explanations. While reaching no absolute conclusion, he suggested telepathy might account for the phenomenon.