author
Thomson Jay Hudson
1834–1903
Best known for The Law of Psychic Phenomena, this 19th-century American writer tried to explain hypnotism, mental healing, and spiritualist claims in a systematic way. His books helped shape popular conversations about psychology and the unseen at the turn of the century.
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About the author
Born in Windham, Ohio, on February 22, 1834, Thomson Jay Hudson became an American author, journalist, and later chief examiner at the U.S. Patent Office. Trained in law, he moved through public life before gaining wide attention as a writer on psychical research and mental science.
Hudson is most closely associated with The Law of Psychic Phenomena (1893), the book that made his name. In it, he argued that many unusual mental and spiritual experiences could be understood through ideas about hypnosis and the divided mind, rather than accepted as proof of supernatural forces. That skeptical but curious approach made him a notable anti-Spiritualist voice, even as he wrote for readers fascinated by psychic subjects.
He continued publishing on related themes until his death on May 26, 1903. Today, he is remembered as a distinctive figure from an era when psychology, metaphysics, and popular religion often overlapped, and when writers like Hudson tried to give mysterious experiences a more orderly explanation.