page_title: Rudi Schneider
section_title: Other tests
hierarchical_section_title: Rudi Schneider / Investigations / Other tests
caption_attribution_description: English: The spiritualist medium Rudi Schneider being tested by Harry Price at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research.
context_page_description: Rudi Schneider, son of Josef Schneider and brother of Willi Schneider, was an Austrian Spiritualist and physical medium. His career was covered extensively by the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, and he took part in a number of notable experiments conducted by paranormal researchers/debunkers, including Harry Price, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing and Eric Dingwall. Some of these researchers declared him to be a fraud while others were unable to find evidence of trickery.
context_section_description: In the 1920s Fritz Wittels who had attended séances with Schneider wrote that "With occult waves running high in Vienna, there was a famous medium named Rudi Schneider, a few of whose meetings I attended. Whenever I came, however, either nothing happened at all or the things which did happen were obvious frauds." It was reported by Stefan Meyer that Schneider was exposed as a fraud by Dr. Lothar Lenkei.
  In 1928, E. R. Dodds and V. J. Woolley attended six séances in dim red light with Schneider and absolutely no phenomena occurred. Dodds wrote that semen was found after one of the séances. 
  In a series of mediumship sessions in 1932 which included the researchers and scientists Dr. William Brown, C. E. M. Joad, Professor D. F. Fraser-Harris, Professor John Alexander Gunn and Julian Huxley, no paranormal phenomena was observed in the séance room with Schneider. Huxley wrote that there was "no proof of any communication with departed spirits". Zoologist Solly Zuckerman also attended some séance sittings and wrote that the mediumship of Schneider had not passed any scientific tests.
  William Howard Livens on 15 November 1932 attended a séance with Schneider and no paranormal phenomenon was observed.
  Between October 1933 and March 1934 Schneider was investigated by the Society for Psychical Research in fifty-five sittings and not a single paranormal phenomenon was observed. Infrared ray apparatus was installed by Oliver Gatty working with Theodore Besterman. The experiments proved negative, no telekinetic phenomena of any kind were observed or any absorption of the infrared rays. Every chance was given to Schneider to prove his alleged paranormal abilities but nothing paranormal occurred. Another researcher, Whately Carington had proven by tests that the spirit "Olga" which Schneider channeled in reality was indistinguishable in psychological make-up from himself. Oliver Gatty and Theodore Besterman communicated their results to Nature, concluding that in their tests there was "no good evidence that Rudi Schneider possesses supernormal powers." 
  There were no more investigations as in his later years Schneider gave up mediumship to become an auto mechanic.
caption: Price testing Rudi Schneider.
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