--- aliases: - Gilbert Roller - Gil Roller - Roller, Gilbert category: Scientists & Researchers created: 2026-10-09 location: New York, New York relations: - end: 1933 fn: 3 role: Founding sitter of the teenage séance group, 1929-1933 start: 1929 type: participant_in with: '[[Bindelof séance circle]]' - end: 1975 fn: 8 role: 'Instructor, course 2755-3 Paramechanics: A Study of Paranormal Psychical Phenomena' start: 1975 type: employed_by with: '[[New School for Social Research]]' - fn: 8 role: President type: head_of with: '[[Hepworth Films]]' - fn: 8 role: President type: head_of with: '[[IFE Corp.]]' - fn: 8 role: Director type: director_of with: '[[Opti-Sound Corp.]]' - fn: 2 type: member_of with: '[[American Society for Psychical Research]]' - fn: 2 type: member_of with: '[[Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine]]' summary: Gilbert Roller, a New York television and film producer, was a founding sitter of the teenage Bindelof séance circle and taught a paramechanics course at the New School in 1975. tags: - Parapsychology - Psi - Paramechanics - Poltergeist - BindelofCircle - Seances - TedSerios - PsychicWarfare - ColdWar - NewSchool - Filmmaking updated: 2026-10-09 --- Gilbert Roller (also Gil Roller) was a [New York City](/places/new-york-city/) television and motion-picture producer, artist and writer who lectured on physical psychic phenomena. As a teenager he was a founding sitter of the Bindelof séance circle, whose sittings from 1929 to 1933 produced table levitations and raps. In 1975 he taught a paramechanics course at the [New School for Social Research](/organizations/new-school-for-social-research/) and published *A Voice From Beyond* with Popular Library.[^1] ### Early life and the Bindelof séance circle Roller wrote that when he was twelve the family apartment was the scene of a poltergeist that lasted about six months: objects were tossed about, dishes slid from the kitchen shelves, a toy electric engine was demolished inside a closet, and the word "GO" appeared scrawled in large crayon letters on the walls. The family gave up the apartment, and no manifestations occurred in the new quarters or, on checking, among the new tenants of the old one.[^2] The Psi Encyclopedia account of the group, drawing on Rosemarie Pilkington, places the disturbances when he was about thirteen, with hairpins and knobs thrown, the destruction of a prized toy and crayon messages five feet high.[^3] His mother, in the theatrical profession, had investigated mediumship among show people, and he wrote that Rosie and Jennie Dolly "turned out to have remarkable powers," with knocks and table levitation achieved in dim light.[^2] Roller was the son of entertainers, and the family library held books on psychical research.[^3] The author biography in *A Voice From Beyond* puts the poltergeist, the mother's séances, a teenage group of friends who "held séances regularly for about two years," and the New School course in a single printed text. Pilkington's *The Spirit of Dr. Bindelof* (Anomalist Books, 2006) is described by its publisher as "Gilbert Roller's utterly charming and disarming auto-biographical account of a group of teenagers" who contacted an alleged spirit named Dr. Bindelof.[^4] Pilkington wrote in *Fortean Times* in 2007 that she "knew Gil Roller for more than 30 years" and described the first part of her book as "a long overdue account, in a very palatable way, of Gil Roller's and the Bindelof group's extraordinary experiences."[^5] Roller and his friend Leonard Lauer began mediumistic sittings from techniques described in psychical research books and journals. On their second attempt the table moved, at first erratically and then on command, and they were able to command it to levitate to shoulder height.[^3] A thirteen-year-old friend, Larry Levin, joined them, and by 1933 the group included Leo Kaiser, Montague Ullman, Howard Frisch, George Kaiser, Tom Loeb and Horace Joseph, meeting on Saturday evenings in Roller's bedroom.[^3] Ullman later became a psychiatrist and parapsychologist and founded the dream laboratory at Maimonides Hospital in New York.[^3] Roller described the group in 1975 as eight "dedicated people who achieved full table levitation without contact, telekinetic writing, extranormal photography, invisible tactile forms and other phenomena," under "rigid test conditions that ruled out fraud."[^2] He gave the duration as about two years; the Psi Encyclopedia gives weekly sittings from 1929 to 1933 and a brief reformation in March 1934.[^3] The photographic plates and the pages on which writing had appeared are now held by the Parapsychology Foundation in New York, and the foundation's collection transferred to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2022 lists the Bindelof séance phenomena among its archival holdings.[^3][^6] ### Later reunion and career According to Levin, several members of the group gathered again in 1946 with little result at first. Roller was persuaded to rejoin them, and with George Kaiser the six surviving alumni produced table movement, levitation and a message spelled out by the table, though the message was not intelligible.[^3] The same account states that Roller alone produced the phenomena in sittings with other groups, and that psychokinetic events continued to follow him in daily life.[^3] Roller's 1975 book says that despite the group's dispersal under the pressures of college and courtship, "throughout the years all the members have maintained contact," and that the members had recently met to review and collate the material from the sittings.[^2] He followed a career as an artist, writer, filmmaker and television producer.[^3] A Gilbert Roller is named in the September 1935 issue of *Fleischer's Animated News*, the staff newsletter of Fleischer Studios, as the signer of a comic verse about a studio worker's rise from opaquer to animator and in a gossip item pairing him with a woman named Ellen Jensen. The issue gives no age, address or later career, and the records found do not establish whether he is the Gilbert Roller of the séance circle.[^7] ### A Voice From Beyond (1975) *A Voice From Beyond* was published by Popular Library in New York in 1975, with the copyright held by "Gil Roller" and an edition by Michael Hayes.[^1] The table of contents lists "Think Psychic," a chapter titled "Creditable Men Who Explored the Incredible," a chapter headed "Experimental Investigation of a New Force," a photographic section, "The Unshakable Facts of the Ted Serios Phenomena" at page 145, and "Was the Spassky Defeat a Russian Victory?" at page 152.[^1] That chapter concerns the chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. The cover copy advertises "the newly revealed truth about how the famous Fischer-Spassky chess match served as a testing ground for international psychic warfare."[^1] ### New School course, 1975 The book's author biography states that Roller teaches a course in paramechanics at the New School for Social Research in New York City, which "comprises an inquiry into telekinesis, poltergeists, ectoplasm and thought photography." The same biography states that his business career is devoted to television and motion-picture production, and that he is a member of the [American Society for Psychical Research](/organizations/american-society-for-psychical-research/) and the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine.[^2] The school's *New School Bulletin* for the spring 1975 semester lists course 2755-3, "Paramechanics: A Study of Paranormal Psychical Phenomena," taught by Gilbert Roller on Tuesdays from February 4.[^8] The bulletin's faculty biography for Roller describes investigations into paranormal phenomena, particularly physical manifestations, and lists him as a faculty member of the Fashion Institute of Technology, president of Hepworth Films and of IFE Corp., and a director of Opti-Sound Corp..[^8] The 1975 *New Psychic Frontiers* survey by Walter Uphoff and Mary Jo Uphoff lists a New School for Social Research entry naming [Robert M. Brier](/people/robert-m-brier/), [Martin Ebon](/people/martin-ebon/) and Gilbert Roller, with the address 66 West 12th Street, New York. The same survey lists Brier under the philosophy department of C.W. Post College on the preceding page.[^9] ### Soviet long-range telepathy and the Fischer-Spassky matches The chapter "Was the Spassky Defeat a Russian Victory?" (pp. 152-163) describes the claim as "rumored to have been attempted by the Russians during the Fischer-Spassky chess games." Roller writes that "the information given him concerning these experiments is controversial and, of course, Officially denied, but the alleged facts have been surprisingly confirmed by careful investigation."[^10] The chapter opens with a 1959 French newspaper report that the [United States Navy](/organizations/us-navy/) had run an experiment in which telepathic communication reached a subject in the submerged submarine [Nautilus](/programs/the-nautilus-telepathy-project/) from a sender on shore. Roller states that the report was made "despite denials by the U. S. Navy," and cites a February 1960 article in Science et Vie.[^10] He suggests that the report may have started the Soviet long-range experiments.[^10] Roller names [Leonid Vasiliev](/people/leonid-vasiliev/), [Edward Naumov](/people/eduard-naumov/) and I. F. Tomashevsky as the key figures in Soviet work. He describes a 1966 transmission by Karl Nikolaiev from [Moscow](/places/moscow/) to Siberia "over one thousand miles," a March 1967 test at Leningrad University in which brain-wave and galvanic skin changes were recorded, and a 1968 test from Moscow to Tomsk over three thousand miles.[^11] He writes that Tomashevsky, confined in a lead isolation chamber, affected similarly shielded subjects to the point of extreme emotional stress and in some cases unconsciousness.[^11] He cites Douglas Dean of the Newark College of Engineering, whose plethysmograph report on blood-volume changes in a subject receiving a telepathic signal, he writes, was reviewed in a leading Soviet journal and used in Vasiliev's work.[^11] He also cites the Apollo 14 ESP experiment and the later work of [Edgar Mitchell](/people/edgar-mitchell/) in the field.[^11] According to Roller, the information "privately given the author" set the schedule of transmissions: adverse telepathic bombardment of Fischer from about July 3 through 17, of Spassky from July 18 through 26, a control period from July 27 through August 5, and renewed transmissions against Fischer from August 6 to the conclusion of the match.[^12] He writes that "the Fischer-Spassky matches presented an ideal testing ground for further confirmation of these techniques," and lists the distance from Iceland to Leningrad and the two players' temperaments among the factors present.[^12] He sets quotations from [The New York Times](/organizations/new-york-times/) accounts of each phase against the schedule, and reports that during the first period Fischer closeted himself in his hotel room, booked flight passage to New York City, and was telephoned by [Henry Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/) from [Washington, D.C.](/places/washington-dc/) with a plea to resume the games.[^13] Roller reports that Spassky's second, Efim Geller, told the Times on August 23 that the Americans were using "non-chess methods" against the champion. He argues that the charge, coming after Spassky's upturn at the start of the final phase, suggests that Geller "was in constant touch with Moscow, and after the initial success of Phase IV, may have been informed of the experiment."[^14] Roller states that "the information given in confidence more than a month before the matches conforms to the events," and that "official denials must be expected." He quotes an unnamed Soviet investigator as saying, "If we control the mind, we control the man. If we control the man, we control the nation."[^14] He does not name the person who gave him the confidential information. A footnote to the chapter states that he has conducted experiments with volunteers, who were told the nature of the experiments in advance, with only the choice of receiver withheld, and that "the tests were remarkably successful."[^15] ### Strategic arms talks Roller extends the argument to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in Moscow and to [Richard Nixon](/people/richard-nixon/) and Kissinger. He writes that "we cannot safely conclude that he was not subjected to these transmissions," referring to Nixon, and describes a "recovery quotient" that varies with personality, with Fischer's extroversion permitting faster recovery than Spassky's introversion.[^16] He adds that Fischer, at the time of writing, had engineered his own surrender of the world championship to Anatoly Karpov and was obsessed with the idea that "the Russians are spying on him."[^16] ### Ted Serios The book devotes pp. 145-151 to Ted Serios, whom Roller calls "perhaps the greatest medium and producer of enigmatic phenomena." He writes that "the man responsible for the superb documentation of the Serios phenomena is Dr. Jule Eisenbud, a psychiatrist."[^17] The [Time (magazine)](/organizations/time/) cover story "Boom Times on the Psychic Frontier" (March 4, 1974), which covers Serios and the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man in Durham, is held in the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) reading room.[^18] ### Government and defense interest The government and defense claims in *A Voice From Beyond* are Roller's own, stated in his voice; he does not name his sources. After the March 1967 Leningrad test, Roller writes, the Russian government, which had until then been an interested spectator, was impressed enough that "an appropriation equivalent to $25 million" was allocated to expand the research.[^11] The Navy denial and the expected official denials of the Soviet material appear in the chapter as positions of the Navy and of the governments concerned.[^10][^14] ### Death The Psi Encyclopedia gives Roller's death as 2004, at age 89.[^3] The [Parapsychological Association](/organizations/parapsychological-association/) administers a Gilbert Roller Fund, established by a donation, which supports field investigation of macroscopic psychokinesis in sitter groups, séances and poltergeist activity; its first listed awards are for 2009, and its 2013 and 2014 grants went to the Felix Experimental Group and a sitter group in Argentina. The association's page does not name the donor, and the records found do not establish whether the fund's Gilbert Roller is the man of this page.[^19] [^1]: Gilbert Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (New York: Popular Library, 1975), cover copy, copyright page and table of contents. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^2]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), "About the Author," pp. 11-13. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^3]: K. M. Wehrstein, "Bindelof Phenomena," *Psi Encyclopedia* (Society for Psychical Research, created February 26, 2018, last updated September 3, 2026), drawing on Rosemarie Pilkington, *The Spirit of Dr. Bindelof: The Enigma of Séance Phenomena* (San Antonio: Anomalist Books, 2006), pp. 8-69, as endnoted in sections "First Sittings," "Problems and Dissolution," "Attitudes" and "Later Life." The 1946 reunion is attributed in that article to Larry Levin; the death date and age are stated there without a separate source. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/bindelof-phenomena/ [^4]: Anomalist Books, catalogue page for Rosemarie Pilkington, *The Spirit of Dr. Bindelof: The Enigma of Séance Phenomena* (trade paperback, 248 pages, ISBN 1933665130). https://www.anomalistbooks.com/book.cfm?id=51 [^5]: Rosemarie Pilkington, letter "Three-legged Physical mediumship," *Fortean Times* 226 (September 2007), pp. 73-74, replying to a review of her book in *Fortean Times* 222. https://archive.org/details/fortean-times-september-2007 [^6]: University of Maryland, Baltimore County, announcement of the Eileen J. Garrett Parapsychology Foundation Collection (October 2022). https://umbc.edu/?p=73101 [^7]: *Fleischer's Animated News*, September 1935 issue (Fleischer Studios staff newsletter): verse "Love Among the Popeyes," signed "Gilbert Roller.," and a gossip item reading "Rumors persist that Gilbert Roller and Ellen Jensen are that way." https://archive.org/details/Fleischers_Animated_News_1935_09 [^8]: New School for Social Research, *New School Bulletin*, spring 1975, vol. 32, no. 5 (December 27, 1974), published as *Announcement of Courses of Study*: course 2755-3 and the Roller biography (pp. 88 and 356). https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez07AAAAMAAJ [^9]: Walter and Mary Jo Uphoff, *New Psychic Frontiers* (Minneapolis: Bolger Publications, 1975), chapter V, "Research, Investigation and Teaching," p. 228 (C.W. Post College entry) and p. 229 (New School for Social Research entry). CIA CREST, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230018-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001200230018-6 [^10]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), "Was the Spassky Defeat a Russian Victory?", pp. 152-153. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^11]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), pp. 153-155, including the book's footnotes citing Winn, *Psychotherapy in the Soviet Union* (1961), and *Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research* (July 1971, vol. 65, no. 3). Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^12]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), pp. 155-156. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^13]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), pp. 157-158 (the book states that the quotations are extracts from New York Times accounts of the matches). Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^14]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), pp. 159-161. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^15]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), p. 161, note 6. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^16]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), pp. 162-163, citing *New York Magazine*, February 24, 1975, for Fischer's situation. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^17]: Roller, *A Voice From Beyond* (1975), "Ted Serios Phenomena," pp. 145-146. Open copy: https://archive.org/details/a-voice-from-beyond [^18]: CIA CREST, "Boom Times on the Psychic Frontier," *Time* cover story (March 4, 1974), reading-room copy CIA-RDP96-00787R000100030002-8. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000100030002-8 [^19]: Parapsychological Association, "Gilbert Roller Fund" page and award notices for 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014 (Wayback capture of December 29, 2016). https://web.archive.org/web/20161229195421/http://www.parapsych.org/section/9/gilbert_roller_fund.aspx. Parra et al., "Laboratory Research on a Presumably PK-Gifted Subject," acknowledgments (2014 grant). https://archive.org/details/LaboratoryResearchOnAPresumablyPKG --- *The Info Web has an MCP server for agents at https://theinfoweb.org/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth): search by meaning, exact text, source or date, and follow typed, footnoted connections. Setup and the same tools over GET: https://theinfoweb.org/llms.txt*