is no need nor room for the agency of spirits, and the invocation of such agency is the sign of a mind not merely unscientific, but uninformed." Psychology professor Théodore Flournoy investigated the claim by nineteenth-century medium Hélène Smith (Catherine Müller) she did automatic writing to convey messages from Mars in Martian language. Flournoy concluded her "Martian" language had a strong resemblance to Ms. Smith's native language of French and her automatic writing was "romances of the subliminal imagination, derived largely from forgotten sources (for example, books read as a child)." He invented the term cryptomnesia to describe this phenomenon. In 1927, psychiatrist Harold Dearden wrote that automatic writing is a psychological method of "tapping" the unconscious mind and there is nothing mysterious about it. In 1986, A. B. Joseph investigated two female patients who were found to exhibit ictal hypergraphia. Automatic writing behavior was discovered by Dilek Evyapan and Emre Kumral in three patients with right hemispheric damage. A 2012 study of ten psychographers using single photon emission computed tomography showed differences in brain activity and writing complexity during alleged trance states vs. normal state writing. Pop culture and media Automatic writing is touted by medium Bonnie Page in a Sentinel and Enterprise article as a method of accessing claircognizance abilities. Automatic writing is featured prominently in the 1961 episode of Perry Mason, The Case of the Meddling Medium. Portions of Van Morrison's album Astral Weeks supposedly are inspired by dreams, reveries, and automatic writing. Czech director Jan Svankmajer claims he concocted the screenplay for his hybrid film Insect (Hmyz) in a fit of automatic writing. William S. Burroughs has described his book Naked Lunch as "automatic writing gone horribly wrong" and believed he found his subconscious taken over by a hostile entity. In an interview in GQ, David Byrne indicated an interest in automatic writing due to the influence of Brian Eno. Gallery See also Alien hand syndrome Automatic drawing Artistic inspiration Asemic writing Automatic speech Memoirs of a Suicide Chico Xavier Joseph Sieber Benner Bicameral mentality Divided consciousness Dowsing Dual consciousness Fuji (planchette writing) Hypergraphia Left brain interpreter List of topics characterized as pseudoscience Matthew Manning Mediumship Oahspe: A New Bible, claimed to be written via automatic writing Spiritism Spiritism Spiritualism Spiritualist art Surrealist automatism Table-turning References Further reading (The document is in English but the linked website is in German.) External links Mediumship Language and mysticism