The 1986 Reappraisal

Vernon Harrison — a professional examiner of questioned documents and himself an SPR member — re-examined the handwriting evidence and found Hodgson's methods badly wanting. In May 1986 the SPR issued a press release headed to the effect that Blavatsky had been unjustly condemned, and Harrison's full study appeared in 1997.

⚠⚠ This is where a careless bench would overcorrect, so read what it does and does not say. Harrison's work is about the handwriting analysis and Hodgson's reasoning from it — it is not a demonstration that the Masters exist, and the SPR does not hold or issue corporate opinions on such questions, a point the Society itself makes. The honest statement is narrow and worth having: the most famous debunking in the movement's history was itself methodologically poor. That leaves the question open. It does not settle it the other way.