The death of Hans Bender
Hans Bender, the German parapsychologist who founded the Freiburg institute for frontier areas of psychology, died on 7 May 1991. He led the research on the Rosenheim poltergeist case of 1967-68.
Hans Bender was born on 5 February 1907 and died on 7 May 1991, according to Wikipedia. His birthplace was Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, and he lectured on parapsychology. In 1950 he founded an institute in Freiburg for frontier areas of psychology. The Psi Encyclopedia says he took a chair in frontier areas of psychology at Freiburg's university in 1967, and head of the Parapsychological Association in 1969. Wikipedia says his pipe-smoking, contemplative figure was for many years synonymous with German parapsychology.
Bender's main interest was poltergeist-type cases, which he described as recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis. The Psi Encyclopedia says he led the research on the 1967-68 Rosenheim case. He also looked into Gerard Croiset's alleged powers of psi detection.
In the Rosenheim case, Wikipedia reports Bender's own account. In autumn 1967 he was asked to look into disturbances at the legal offices of a man named Adam, said to occur just at weekends. Reported events included exploding or swinging lighting fixtures, shifted heavy furniture and leaking copier fluid. Staff denied making many outgoing calls to a time-announcement line that were charged to the firm.
"Hans Bender (5 February 1907 – 7 May 1991) was a German lecturer on the subject of parapsychology, who was also responsible for establishing the parapsychological institute Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene in Freiburg. For many years his pipe smoking, contemplative figure was synonymous with German parapsychology. He was an investigator of 'unusual human experience', e.g. poltergeists and clairvoyants. One of his most famous cases was the Rosenheim Poltergeist."
- Psi Researchers II (Hans Bender), Psi Encyclopedia, Society for Psychical Research
- Rosenheim poltergeist claim, Wikipedia (2026)