Controversies

In 1885 the Society for Psychical Research published the Hodgson Report, which concluded that Blavatsky’s claimed phenomena — letters from the Mahatmas materialising in a shrine at Adyar — were fraudulent. The SPR formally retracted significant portions of the report a century later, in 1986, citing methodological failures by Hodgson. The historical question is still debated.

Charles Webster Leadbeater, an influential second-generation Theosophist, was the subject of repeated allegations of sexual misconduct with boys under his instruction, beginning with formal charges within the Society in 1906. He was suspended, later reinstated, and remained a senior figure until his death in 1934.