Rudi Schneider
| Rudi Schneider | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 July 1908 Austria |
| Died | 1957 (aged 48–49) |
| Occupation | Mechanic Physical medium |
Rudi Schneider (27 July 1908 – 1957), 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.
Schneider began participating in séances with his elder brother Willi Schneider at age 11. Both Rudi and Willi claimed to channel a spirit entity called "Olga" who in the séance room claimed to be "Lola Montez" the nickname of Eliza Eosanna Gilbert (1821-1861) the mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria. Schneider held his first solo séance in 1919 and is said to have been able to summon the ghostly image of a human hand, as well as a number of other manifestations that are traditionally associated with séances.
Schneider began giving demonstrations to the Vienna Institut fur Radiumforschung der Academic der Wissenschaffen in 1923. In an investigation into the mediumship of Schneider in 1924 the physicists Stefan Meyer and Karl Przibram caught Schneider evading the controls in a series of séances. After Meyer and Przibram's accusations, the institute concluded that the abilities that Schneider had demonstrated up to that point were all, based on the balance of probability, the result of trickery and that he was no-longer of interest to them.
In 1926, American journalist Warren Vinton attended séances with Schneider and came to the conclusion that the movement of objects were fraudulently produced by other members of the Schneider family concealed in the room. In April 1927, Vinton published an article in Psyche which accused Schneider of being a fraud and using a hidden accomplice. Another researcher, J. Malcolm Bird who attended a séance with Schneider also supported Vinton's accusations.
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