Alan Gauld (born 1932) is a British parapsychologist, psychologist and spiritualist writer best known for his research on the history of hypnotism and mediumship.
He has claimed that ectoplasm materializations seem to "smack very strongly of fraud and conjuring", such as made from cheesecloth or net curtain.
He states however that he believes there is genuine evidence for movement of objects during séances including the phenomena produced with the medium Daniel Dunglas Home.
Hansel noted that when discussing spiritualist mediums such as the Fox sisters or Eusapia Palladino, Gauld failed to "report important observations that suggest physical rather than psychical explanations.
"[11] Psychologist Geoffrey Blowers also praised the book commenting that "he steers a clear path through the large, diverse literature and avoids a partisan stance on the findings to present a lively and informative account of this baffling phenomenon.