Victorian Paranormal Societies- The Society of Phantasmic Inquiry

In the Victorian age, scientific pursuit met the craze for spiritualism. Professional men, laymen, and the idle rich gathered in mutual fascination to explore the unknown. Clubs, societies, and cabals formed undertaking strange experiments, and bizarre investigations to understand paranormal phenomena. And that’s just the real world. Imagine what these groups would be up to in the World of Victoriana.
In the next few weeks, I’m presenting groups devoted to exploring the supernatural. From séance-busters to mind enhancing experiments, each group is described for use in your games. Each group could be an association, an employer, the main villain, or a just a mob of protesters blocking the street during a chase.
Some information (like the Sinister Ideas and Benevolent Ideas) is contradictory and will be dependent on their use in play. The terms Private and Public describe the club’s activates. Public describes activities the club willingly lets the general populace know, and Private describes activates and pursuits known only to initiates and the group’s leadership.
Reputation modifiers (Notoriety and Propriety) are applicable to any member of the groups (NPC or PC).

The Society of Phantasmic Inquiry
In 1853, a few Cambridge dons met to discuss ghosts and other paranormal events. Their meetings grew in attendance and frequency leading to the founding of the Society of Phantasmic Inquiry, and the relocation of their meetings from Cambridge to London.
Many important men of letters interested in myth, folklore, and history joined the Society, bolstering its resources and giving publicity to the Society’s efforts. The Society of Phantasmic Inquiry has become one of the most famous and well respected groups investigating the paranormal in London.
Public Goal: Use modern scientific methods to examine folklore, haunting, and other bizarre phenomena
Private Goal: Discover how ghosts are connected to specific locations and replicate their supernatural abilities
Membership: 20-30 (No female members officially, but each member is allowed a guest); Membership is by invitation only, all members are men of means, both high and middle class, with scientific and literary interests
Meetings: Regular Thursday meetings in rented banquet halls, parlors, and dining rooms (Public- visiting journalists occasionally describe meetings in newspaper articles); Séances, private illusionist performances, visitations of known haunted houses (Private)
Sinister Ideas: A search for the secrets hidden behind fairy stories, bizarre vigils in dark places, men of influence using their resources to tap into terrifying histories,
Benevolent Ideas: Men of perception helping lost spirits find closure, scientific and folkloric curiosity
Notoriety: 1 (Some humorous second hand stories about a disastrous night in a supposedly haunted tavern have made the rounds)  
Propriety: 2 (many member’s have distinguished artistic and scholastic reputations in the public eye) Sample Members: 
 Harry Bradshaw (Dwarven journalist concerned with civic improvement and the true lives of the underprivileged)
Bransby Wattwright (Respected eldren mathematician and mechanical engineer with a curious but skeptical mind)
Leah Katherine Garret (A trusted bearfolk magnetist often consulted by the society, fearful of the Guild)
Leadership:
Richard Aburrow (Famous human author and journalist whose enthusiasm for the club has doubled its membership)
Professor Howard Spofforth (Serious-minded gnome professor of astronomy with a preference for quiet contemplation)  

Plot Hooks
A few members of the Society took a holiday to the country to research local legends. They are now missing. Their last telegram describes three-legged hoof-prints around ancient standing stones.

Ghostly presences in a library pull books off the shelves to make strange geometric stacks. All the books are on the same subject. Who or what is behind it and what is its purpose?

Small winged humanoid skeletons found in recent excavations could be proof of the existence of fairies. The Society has a chance to independently authenticate the remains.