When/why did ESP/psionics show up in the popular imagination? (or at least, sci-fi)

Zener cards were developed to test for ESP in the early 1930s I think, so before then. I remember playing with them in the late 1960s/early 1970s, when Uri Geller was big news.

man, ghostbusters was a funny movie

you can take the test here actually:

http://www.psychic-experiences.com/psychic-tests/zener-cards.php

What, nobody on here has any idea about this?

The Society For Psychical Research was founded in 1882, and there was a craze for "mentalism" in Victorian England.

The psychic thing also shows up in some earlier sf - EE Smith's Lensmen Series comes to mind here- and I'm sure there are others that I can't recall off the top of my head. As you point out John W Campbell went a bit mental on the idea during the 50s - hence the Sturgeon, Van Vogt, etc. stuff. A lot of the novels of that time - like Slan f'rinstance - were originally serialized as connected groups of short stories in the mags.

I suspect that the emergence of psi/ESP into public consciousness stems from the 60s counterculture and connected New Age movements - which, I would argue, took some of their ideas directly from the sf of the time.

Mesmer and Rasputin got a craze going for hypnosis, which stirred up all kinds of mind-power speculation, late 1700s through 1800s. Dovetailed nicely with the revivalist movement in the late 1800s through the early 1900s with all its attendant hoohah.

In 1988, the National Research Council had been researching parapsychology for 130 years. So obviously the idea's been around for a good long time, not strictly arising from "post-war mass culture". It comes and goes in pop culture; it sells books for awhile and then it wears thin.

Hm. Okay, I was just wondering why this particular bit showed up when it did.

Well the pulp-driven bodybuilding craze (Charles Atlas etc.) kicks off in the 20s, doesn't it? Seems a pretty short wish-fulfilment step from that to "Hmm, this Atlas stuff isn't working for me, but wouldn't it be great if I could train my MIND to do incredible things..." - that might explain why it was a hit in the sci-fi world.

Biofeedback became a hot topic in the early 1960s, when instrumentation for galvanic skin response was also being heavily worked out. Research into hallucinogens no doubt spurred a resurgent interest in ESP.

basically it started with the Spiritualist movement didn't it?

yeah latebloomer's on the right track I think - the central ideas can be traced back to the turn of the century and the revival of interest in the occult, hypnotism, etc.

and obviously the political climate of the 50s lent itself fairly well to ruminations about mind control, atomic mutants, telepathy, and whatnot.

controlf lsd

The Woman in White and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

This book is my favorite of all new age sci-fi of the '70s, it's so totally silly and weird:

[image[Removed Illegal Link]

"Jon decides to use the powers he learns in 2150 to improve the world in 1976. He selects a woman he finds in the student union, Nina. He uses his powers to persuade her mother to let her move into an apartment in his building, and then he works on her body's glands to change her appearance to match the personality he sees within her. Karl and Nina eventually fall in love and get married.

Later, in 1976, Jon interrupts a couple of motorcycle thugs who intend to rape a teenage girl. Using his powers, Jon attacks them, stops them, and helps the girl to leave. Then Jon causes the thugs to follow him back to his apartment building, where he places them in an empty apartment. He uses a post-hypnotic suggestion to prevent them from leaving. The result of all this is that he is unable to make it to 2150 that night, because he was selfish in the use of his powers. He must resolve this problem before he can return to 2150."

Working with Nina, Jon instructs the motorcycle thugs in Macro philosophy, and eventually releases them when they have changed. This results in Jon returning to 2150, awakening with a level 2 awareness level.

He and his partner in 2150 decide to go to Micro Island, a location where souls desiring a micro life in 2150 can be born to experience it. People from the Macro society often go to Micro Island as tutors of Macro philosophy.

Jon and his partner are welcomed by the leaders of Micro Island, two former Macro society members who regressed from their awareness levels and decided to use their powers for control and their own self-interest. During this time, Jon learns that there is nothing he can do except die, so he and his partner are stoned to death.

Back in 1976, Jon realizes that he has learned all he can in this lifetime, so he chooses to evolate -- or suicide as a growth step instead of a retreat -- and dies in his sleep."

http://www.after-death.com/images/books/0446356492.gif

Glargh, it's 2150 by Thea Alexander. An earlier edition was written by her & her then-husband, which was revised greatly after their divorce.