Blacktide Was Freuda Fraid of the Occult?

Sigmund freud’s new ‘science’ of psychoanalysis was meant to shine a wholly materialistic light on the mysteries of the human mind and banish the supernatural forever. But, asks Gary Lachman, was freud secretly troubled by the strange phenomena he publicly disavowed? And what about jung and the case of the poltergeist in the bookcase?

Was Freud afraid of the occult? That the father of psychoanalysis took a no-nonsense, scientific approach to the mysteries of the human mind is a common view, and it suggests that while Freud dismissed the occult as a load of superstitious rubbish, he wasn’t particularly afraid of it.Yet an episode in his relationship with his erstwhile successor Carl Jung may suggest otherwise. We can call it “the curious incident of the poltergeist in Freud’s bookcase.”

During a visit to Vienna in 1909, Jung had a conversation with Freud about the new study of parapsychology. Freud dismissed the whole subject as nonsense, something Jung, who had had ample experience of it, could not accept. As the conversation grew heated, Jung, who wanted to keep relations with Freud cordial, found it difficult to hold back his feelings. After all, he had been chosen by Freud to inherit his throne, and he had great respect, even love, for his mentor. But Jung also had his own genius and ambitions and found it difficult to toe the party line. Now, as he looked at Freud he felt his diaphragm glow, as if it were becoming red-hot. Suddenly a loud bang exploded in Freud’s bookcase, and both men jumped up, afraid it would fall on them. Jung said to Freud: “There, that is an example of a so-called catalytic exteriorisation phenomenon,” Jung’s longwinded circumlocution for a poltergeist or “noisy spirit”. Freud retorted “Bosh!” Jung shook his head and predicted that another bang would soon follow. When it did, Freud looked at Jung “aghast”, and from that moment on was mistrustful of his previously favoured disciple. Jung said the way Freud looked at him it was “as if I had done something against him”.