Zorab, George A(vetoom) M(arterus) (1898-1990)

Author and parapsychologist. He was born on January 11, 1898, at Surabaya, Java. His family sent him to the Netherlands for his education. He encountered Spiritualism when only twelve years old and was interested in psychic phenomena from then on. He was also grateful to Spiritualists for relieving him of his fear of death. He became an active Spiritualist as a young man and edited several Spiritualist periodicals. He joined the Studieverening voor Psychical Research (Dutch Society for Psychical Research) and beginning in 1932, he experimented in parapsychology with a concentration on spontaneous paranormal phenomena and quantitative experiments in extrasensory perception with psychotics. In 1938 he joined the Society for Psychical Research, London. He published his first book in 1940, by which time he had concluded that the spirit hypothesis was only weakly supported and the evidence for survival questionable.

After the war Zorab emerged as an active parapsychologist. He chaired the International Committee for the Study of Spontaneous Paranormal Phenomena, The Hague; was a secretary for the First International Conference on Parapsychological Studies in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1953; and participated in the Conference on Spontaneous Paranormal Phenomena at Cambridge, England, in 1955, and the International Conference on Psychology and Parapsychology at Royaumont, France, in 1956.

He was named honorary secretary of the Dutch Society for Psychical Research (1945-57) and directed the Parapsychology Foundation 's European Research Center at St. Paul de Vence, France. In 1960 he was selected to become a member of the Council of the Parapsychology Association, a position which he refused. He did accept, however, the Perrott-Warwick Studentship in Psychical Research for 1968/1969. He was the European review editor of the Indian Journal of Parapsychology, contributed many articles to Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie and other parapsychological journals, and wrote a number of books. Zorab remained active in the field of parapsychology until 1987, due to failing health. He died July 4, 1990.

Sources:

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. New York: Helix Press, 1964.

Snel, F. W. J. J., ed. In Honour of G. A. M. Zorab. Amsterdam: Verenining voor Parapsychologie, 1986.

Zorab, George A. M. Bibliography of Parapsychology. Parapsychology Foundation, 1957.

——. "A Case for Survival." Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 31 (1946).

——. D. D. Home, il Medium. Milan, 1976.

——. "ESP Experiments with Psychotics." Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 39 (1957).

——. "A Further Comparative Analysis of Some Poltergeist Phenomena Cases from Continental Europe." Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 58 (1964).

——. De Jacht op het Spiritistisch Bewijs (In Quest of Proof for Survival). The Hague: Boucher, 1940.

——. Katie King: Donna o Fantasma. Milan: Armenia Editore, 1980.

——. Magnetiseurs en Wondergenezers (Magnetism and Miracle Healers). N.p., 1952.

——. De Opstandingsverhalen in het Licht de Parapsychologie (The Resurrection Narratives in the Light of Parapsychology). N.p., 1949.

——. Parapsychologie (Parapsychology). N.p., 1958.

——. Proscopie, Het Raadsel der Toekomst (Precognition, the Riddle of the Future). N.p., 1953.

——. Wichelroede en Aardstralen (The Divining Rod and Earthrays). N.p., 1950.

——. Wonderen der Parapsychologie (Wonders of Parapsychology). N.p., 1954.

Zorab, George A. M., P. A. Dietz, and K. H. E. de Jong. Parapsychologische Woordentolk (A parapsychological dictionary). N.p., 1956.