U.S. organization investigating Psychokinesis and paranormal phenomena. The Society for Research on Rapport and Telekinesis, better known by its acronym Sorrat, was founded in 1960s by poet and author John G. Neihardt (1881-1973). Neihardt had spent six years with the Omaha tribe as a young man and continued his interaction with Native Americans throughout his life. He is best known as the author of Black Elk Speaks (1932), a classic of Native American religious literature. His early experience with Native Americans had given him a mystical outlook on life, and in 1908 he had married a spiritualist. He conducted his first research on the paranormal in the 1920s.
From its headquarters at Niehardt’s farm near Columbia, Missouri, SORRAT emphasized research on psychokinesis. Neihardt contacted veteran parapsychologist Joseph Banks Rhine to assist him in setting up proper methodological controls. Their experiments began with simple attempts at table tipping. Eventually Levitation and even apports were reported. Members of the group experienced periods of trance during which they channeled various entities.