Fantl, Kurt (1914-1994)
Fantl, Kurt (1914-1994)
Psychiatrist and lecturer on parapsychology. Fantl was born January 25, 1914, in Vienna, Austria, educated at the University of Vienna, and did postgraduate work at St. Mary's Hospital, Racine, Wisconsin (1939). During World War II he worked at the American Hospital in Chicago (1939-41), St. Anthony's Hospital, Effingham, Illinois (1941-44), and the Los Angeles Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Duarte, California (1944-45). After the war he interned and did his residency in psychiatry at Belle-vue Hospital, New York (1945-48). He served successively as an assistant in psychiatry, New York University, New York (1947-48); an instructor, University of Southern California (1948-50); a consultant in psychiatry at Los Angeles City Health Department (1948-51); Long Beach City Health Department (1951-53); U.S. Public Health Service, San Pedro, California (1952-53); and was a staff member at San Pedro Community Hospital and at Clearview Sanatorium, Gardena, California.
Fantl developed a special interest in psychokinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, table-rapping, yoga, and evidence of survival after death. He lectured on parapsychology at Tokyo University and at Poona and Lucknow Universities in India. In 1960 he became president of the Consciousness Research Foundation, a position he held for a number of years.
Sources:
Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. New York: Helix Press, 1964.