Jock Brocas is a spiritual author and teacher with books published internationally. Jock is also the president of the charity organization assmpi and works tirelessly to he others develop spiritually and live a more rewarding life. Join Jock Brocas on a spiritual journey.
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There has been much written and documented about Leslie Flint. For example, how he was the most tested medium of his day by researchers and found to be 100% genuine. But this account is about our experience with him and I feel no need to go into other areas, as they can easily researched if needed.
Leslie Flint’s Direct Voice séances were wonderful and we learned so much. One very interesting point is that the voice actually moved around the room. As Mickey, or whoever was talking at the time, went to someone else, you could hear that the voice was further down the room. This does not come through on the audio recordings, unfortunately.
Some are going to ask, did anyone famous come through? Well yes, a few did. Elizabeth Garret Anderson (1836-1917), who started the first hospital for women. Nellie Wallace (1870-1948), the old Music Hall star known as ‘The Essence of Eccentricity’.
How we discovered Leslie Flint
It is hard to know exactly where to start, as not only was it so long ago, but things happened in a certain manner before we actually went to Leslie Flint’s séance for the first time.
Early in 1981, my wife Wendy and I opened the back room of our flat as a healing sanctuary. We were the first ones to actually do this outside of the Spiritualist churches, in our area of Great Yarmouth, anyway. It was a great success and every Thursday evening we would work until nearly midnight on some occasions.
A widower called John that we got to know at our local church became so interested in what we were doing that we offered to train him as a healer. Not long after that, we began to work with a new patient, a lady from Lowestoft in East Suffolk whose name was Jo. After our first healing session, she asked if she could come again the following week. We said of course, that is why we are here, you don’t need to ask.
Jo told us that she moved down to Lowestoft after losing her husband Les, who had himself been a healer. She went on to say that she was thinking of moving back to where she had come from as she found the local people not to be very friendly and was feeling a bit disillusioned. But she said that we were like a warm breath of fresh air as we were so friendly in welcoming her. She started to come and see us each week and also got to know John, who lost his wife Jean about a year earlier. They became friends and later married.
During this time, Jo regaled us with stories of Leslie Flint and lent us her signed copy of his autobiography Voices in the Dark. She naturally treasured her book but entrusted us with it and said, “I must have it back, but will buy you a copy for Christmas.” True to her word, her gifted book is now one of our valued possessions.
Leslie Flint
One day she said, “Would you all like to go to Leslie Flint’s for a Direct Voice séance”? We jumped at the idea. She said that Leslie, by that time, was actually retired and only did séances occasionally for people he knew or who had previously attended. As Jo had been before, Leslie knew he could trust her if she wanted to bring a group to see him.
She told us that Leslie only asked for a nominal charge of £6 per head which we could manage okay. But we would have to go by train from Great Yarmouth to Paddington which was a bit expensive for us. At that time we existed on a basic benefit, which was barely enough to keep soul and body together.
Then I had a thought. A couple of years previously I had bought an acoustic guitar, which I was vainly trying to learn to play. I had actually given up on that a while ago as I knew it was never going to happen. A friend’s daughter had expressed interest in buying it from me and I said she could have it for £25 which was half of what I had paid for it. She readily agreed, and the sale covered our train fare and a meal.
Jo arranged things with Leslie, and our séance was booked for 2nd June 1982. It was a three hour journey to Paddington and we had to get up very early on the day. We piled out of bed at 5am to get ready to catch the train. Our little flat was full of the atmosphere of expectancy. It was as though our spirit friends already knew of our visit and what was awaiting us.
As I walked into our front room, all of Wendy’s ornaments were pinging like crazy. We both stopped in our tracks and listened as they went ping, ping, ping for a few minutes, or so it seemed. We were so enthralled by it all that time seemed to stand still for awhile.
We went into the kitchen to make a pot of tea, where Wendy had an indoor washing line set up. She gets a bit embarrassed when I tell folk about this next bit. There was only one item of clothing on the washing line and it was part of Wendy’s underwear. Well, the washing line was going crazy, pinging up and down with quite a force, and there was the item belonging to Wendy going up and down with it. Once again we were truly amazed. When all was still again, I tried to emulate it by pinging the line myself but it just wasn’t the same. When spirit does something, it can’t be imitated
Meeting Leslie Flint
We set off on our journey full of excitement and expectancy at what we were, hopefully, going to experience that day. Jo told us that Leslie had managed to fit us in with another group who were also booked that day. It didn’t matter. We were just excited at the prospect of going at all.
He had to leave the room for a while and when he was gone, Wendy thought she would looke under the cinema seats to see if there was anything untoward there. Leslie came back while she was still looking! He wasn’t offended in the least. In fact he said: “Go on look everywhere; satisfy yourself that everything is as it should be.”
Leslie Flint was waiting for us when we entered the room. Being polite, I said, “My name is Robin and this is...” That’s when Leslie said, “NO, don’t tell me names. It won’t be evidential if I know all your names.”
He had to leave the room for a while and when he was gone, Wendy looked under the cinema seats to see if there was anything untoward there, and Leslie returned while she was still looking! He wasn’t offended in the least. In fact he said: “Go on look everywhere; satisfy yourself that everything is as it should be.”
He even told her to go and look in the projector room where the film machinery was. So she did and found nothing wrong there, either.
Most of our group and the other guests sat themselves in the cinema seats. For some reason, I had spied a piano near the corner of the room and Wendy and I sat down beside that so we were a bit separate from the others. Then the lights went out and we were sitting in total blackness. Leslie told us to just to talk normally amongst ourselves, and to him, of course. Keep it light hearted and laughter will help. I can’t recall exactly how long it was we chatted away; it may have been around half an hour or maybe a bit more.
Then Mickey started to speak. It is almost impossible to say what happened in detail as it was so long ago but here is a link to that séance so you can all hear it for yourselves. But I can tell you this, it was truly wonderful.
Our first séance
After our first séance, Leslie knew we could be trusted and agreed that we could bring a group to see him on our own.
Our next séance was arranged for 10th November 1983. This time, we travelled to Paddington by road. We had made friends with a chap called Brian through a local charity that we were both helping with at the time. When we told him of our first séance with Leslie Flint, he was interested in coming along to the next one. Brian had a large Mercedes van that he used to take disabled people around in and offered to take us all in that to see Leslie. So we took our circle members with us for our second visit.
Our second séance
Everyone enjoyed it so much we all decided that would love to go again, so we arranged once more to go on 11th July 1984. Once again, Brian took us all in his vehicle.
Our third séance
We went to Leslie’s for a fourth time, but I can’t recall the date. The reason may be that it was a dud. Nothing happened at all. We must have sat there in the darkness for around two hours when Leslie called it a day. He was so sorry, full of apologies that nothing had happened, what with us coming all that way. But you see, dear Leslie was getting on a bit and he couldn’t guarantee a result. He said it was happening more often and that his own energies weren’t sufficient on that day. Of course we were disappointed but we had a lovely talk with him while we were waiting for the séance that was never destined to start that day.
We were all of good cheer though, and made an appointment for another visit which would take place on 1st October 1985. I have labelled this as our fourth séance because it was our fourth and final successful visit.
Our fourth séance
May I just add that for all these and other wonderful séances to be heard on YouTube, has been made possible by my good friend Jack Terrence Andrews who has so diligently uploaded them to his channel The Leslie Flint Trust. There you will hear many more recordings of the unique and wonderful Direct Voice mediumship of Leslie Flint.
Note: This article was originally published in the Afterlife Magazine by The Otherside Press which has since joined the PDN group.
Up in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where I once studied history at the University of Hull, in the parish churchyard of Rudston village, stands the towering Rudston Monolith, at over 25 feet (and weighing 40 tonnes), the tallest standing stone in the United Kingdom. A smaller stone, also in All Saints churchyard, was once located near its larger sibling. The Norman church was constructed on an ancient pagan site, a common practice through the ages.
Rudston Monolith
Angela Findlay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rudston Monolith
The name of Rudston stems from the Old English "Rood-stane", equating to "cross-stone", meaning the monolith was probably already an object of some heathen veneration, adopted (as always) by Christianity.
The Rudston Monolith is associated with several local legends; one claims the stone was thrown by the Devil at the church, but missed due to divine intervention, others say it fell from the sky to flatten evildoers bent on desecrating the churchyard for satanic reasons.
Those who hold with belief in the ancient ley lines etched across England’s landscape, claim no fewer than five actually converge in Rudston.
Antiquarian Sir William Stukeley (1687–1765) found a large quantity of skulls during his dig at the Monolith, and understandably suggested it may have been a site for human sacrifice. An experiment conducted by William Strickland in the 18th century suggested the stone may even extend underground to a similar depth as above ground. This has yet to be confirmed.
Other prehistoric monuments in the area include four ‘cursi’ - huge Neolithic enclosure structures resembling Roman chariot-racing tracks which comprised parallel banks with external trenches. Three of these constructions converge on the site of the monolith itself. Some say they were used in rituals connected with ancestor worship, or were astronomical in nature. They may also have served as buffer zones between ceremonial and occupation landscapes.
The famed ‘disappearing’ Gypsey Race chalk stream bisects four of the cursus monuments and would have had to be crossed, were these routes to be followed to the Monolith. Local folklore says when the Gypsey Race is flowing in flood (The Woe Waters), ill fortune or great events are close at hand. The Race was in flood in the year before the Great Plague of 1665–66, at the restoration of Charles II (1660), when William of Orange landed in 1688, and before both World War One and World War Two, as well as the exceptionally cold winters of 1947 and 1962.
Recent studies posit the cursi were, in reality, used for ceremonial athletic or military competitions, in keeping with their resemblance to Roman circuses.
Not too far away in North Yorkshire stand The Devil’s Arrows (named due for a similar reason as Rudston) at Boroughbridge; three prehistoric standing stones, the tallest stone measuring 22.5 feet, second in height in the United Kingdom after the Rudston Monolith.
The Rudston Monolith is impressive, but is overshadowed by France’s Grand Menhir Brisé, also known as the Pierres-Pages Menhir, situated in Locmariaquer, Brittany, estimated to have been 20 meters (65 feet) tall originally. Although it subsequently broke into several pieces, the Menhir remains far taller than the Rudston - if it was still standing, not strewn into massive chunks on the ground.
The Wold Newton Triangle
The East Riding is also known for another strange occurrence, that of the boggles, ghosts and others who dwell in the mysterious area known as theWold Newton Triangle, which runs from Scarborough to Driffield then stretching east to Flamborough.
The Wold’s many myths and legends also include green-hued faerie folk, headless ghosts, a greedy Queen, a black skeleton, a Parkin (gingerbread)-eating dragon, sea serpents, shape shifters, enchanted wells, and the giant monoliths, ley lines and the disappearing river which I’ve already mentioned.
But why should such a relatively remote and sparsely populated place be the location for so much supernatural phenomena? In terms of explanations, two are offered: the Ley Lines and the Gypsey Race River, which grant Newton Wold a unique place in the paranormal world.
The Wold has more recently become associated with some of the greatest heroes and villains of pulp, crime and science fiction; the home of a literary conceit conceived by legendary fantasy/sci-fi writer Philip Jose Farmer (1918-2009). In 1795, this part of the Yorkshire Wolds was disturbed by what came to be known as the Wold Cottage meteorite, which supposedly led to genetic mutations in the local population. The object is currently on display at London’s Natural History Museum:
Wold Cottage Meteorite
Chemical Engineer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A monument marks the spot where the stone fell, with this inscription:
Here On this Spot, Decr. 13th, 1795
Fell from the Atmoſphere
AN EXTRAORDINARY STONE
In Breadth 28 inches
In Length 36 inches and
Whole Weight was 56 pounds.
THIS COLUMN
In Memory of it Was erected by
EDWARD TOPHAM
1799
Mischievous supernatural spirits, known as ‘Boggles’, lurk in the area, causing chaos and fires on the roads - to this day. In addition, it was/is believed that each dale in the Triangle possessed its own brand of hobgoblins that help, or hinder, both locals and the relatively few visitors. They apparently resemble small hairy men and regularly interacted/interact with humans. Having lived near the area, the description pretty much nails the local inhabitants, so I would take this with a (fairly large) pinch of salt.
A family at Hart Hall Farm in Glaisdale had been aided by their hobgoblin for generations and it was indeed mutually beneficial. The head of the house caught sight of the creature at his work late at night, and was shocked to see he was buck naked, aside from his covering of coarse, matted hair. Instead of milk or cream, he decided to pay that night with a smock for it to wear. But the hobgoblin was incredibly insulted, bellowing at the master for the correct payment and abandoning the hall. The sprite didn’t want to cause any harm or mischief, but never helped them out again.
The Hob of Hart Hall Glaisdale
The Hob of Hart Hall by Mick Garratt, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Yorkshire hobgoblin supposedly inhabits the cliffs at Boggle Hole. Stroll along the beach from Robin Hood’s Bay and you’ll find a rocky cove with a youth hostel set in an historic mill.
If you linger beside the rock pool looking for fossils, you may just catch a glimpse of the Boggle, either ambling towards you, or on a mission further afield...
Stephen Arnell’s novel THE GREAT ONE, is available on Amazon Kindle; a new book, titled THE FORTUNATE ONE, will be published later this year.
Children of the Stones: FromThe Urban Prehistorian, “...there is a healthy Children of the Stones vibe at the Devil’s Arrows.” https://youtu.be/F67_DB-BFwc
I have long been a fan of medium and author Anthony Borgia and have original copies of some of his books which I treasure. For me, they are up there with Testimony of Light written by Helen Greaves which has been in continuous print since 1969. This underrated book is deserving of much wider readership, as are Borgia’s, whose writings are such an honest pleasure to read. While some of the language may now be dated, the wealth and breadth of what he covered is magnificent.
‘Knowledge is the best antidote for fear, especially if that fear could be of the possible or probable state of existence after we made the change from this life to the next.’ Anthony Borgia, Life in the World Unseen
Anthony Borgia (1896-1989) was a medium who transcribed the thoughts of a deceased Catholic priest and author Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) whom he had known in life. Benson was the son of a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson.
Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson
Photograph by G. Jerrard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Benson was originally a priest in the Anglican tradition, but later changed allegiances and re-qualified as a Catholic priest. Borgia was a close friend of Benson’s for five years prior to his passing into the spirit world. Benson was appointed a supernumerary private chamberlain (now Chaplain of His Holiness) to the Pope in 1911 and consequently styled as Monsignor. He was a prolific author, both of fiction as well as religious tomes and died very young at age 42.
From the Spirit World, the Monsignor dictated a wealth of transcripts to his friend Anthony Borgia, and many of them were converted into books. He has a great deal to say, which he hopes will correct the teachings contained in his previous influential Christian books that were written when he was living on earth.
Borgia’s books containing transcripts of Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson include Beyond this Life (1942) and The World Unseen (1944). They became the first and second part of the 1954 publication Life in the World Unseen. The sequel, More About Life In The World Unseen was published by Odhams Press/Citadel Press in 1958.
ABC of Life (1945) was later republished under the title Here and Hereafter, and the preface includes a reference to forming a trilogy with the two previous books. Facts (1946) and More Light (1947)are heavily laden with religious commentary and neither are particularly popular compared to the others, perhaps indicating it was wiser to stick to non-religious topics.
Heaven and Earth was published in 1948. Here is a timely excerpt:
Anthony Borgia had a strong gift of clairaudience. It was through this particular aspect of his mediumship that he was able to assist Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson in realizing his dearest wish - that of putting into print the knowledge and facts of life after death, and helping to banish the fear of death which affects so many people.
The books for which Anthony acted as Monsignor’s transcriber are rightly regarded as among the ‘classics’ of Spiritualist literature. It was always a source of great happiness to him that he had helped, in this way, to spread the great truths of Spiritualist teachings.
Anthony Borgia: Life in the World Unseen
The foreword of Life in the World Unseen (1954) was written by Sir John Anderson. His closing words are as relevant today as they were in 1954:
’Civilization is at the parting of the ways, and it is to be hoped that more informative literature, such as this, will be forthcoming, to enable the Spiritual regeneration of the world to proceed, so that Peace and Harmony may reign supreme!’
Excerpts from Life in the World Unseen - Introduction by Anthony Borgia, regarding the passing of his friend Monsignor Benson:
After he had passed from this life, I many times wondered as to his welfare. Through a spirit friend I was told that he was well and prospering, and that in time I should hear from him directly. Such eventually proved to be the case, and there commenced a series of scripts given by him, the first of which, Life in the World Unseen, gave an account in some detail of his actual passing.
He recounted how, at the close of his earthly life, he was met by a former colleague named Edwin, and taken by him to the spirit world, where his home awaited him, a counterpart of his house on earth. After a brief rest he commenced his explorations, under Edwin’s guidance, of the land of his new life. During the course of their rambles they met a young girl of great charm, named Ruth, also a newcomer to the spirit world, who joined them, and the three have been together ever since, closely associated in work and pleasure.
Anthony passed in 1989 at the age of 93, a man of profound intelligence allied to an enquiring mind. His interests were many and varied, although those which remained the strongest and lasted all his life were the study of music and of psychic science, in both of which he could be considered something of an expert.
A man of great kindness, warmth and generosity, he was a splendid example of true Spiritualism, never exhibiting this better than during the many years of near blindness in his old age when the grace, courage and humour with which he bore this affliction drew the admiration of all who knew him. His books remain as a testimony to Monsignor’s great desire to share his knowledge of the life to come, and to Borgia’s own homage to truths which sustained him throughout his long life.
Below are some insightful passages from Life in the World Unseen (mind the spelling errors):
Excerpt about Monsignor Benson’s transition into the spirit world:
Excerpt about communication with loved ones on earth and when they are likely to join you in the spirit world:
Monsignor speaks of an immense building which exercises the function of an office of records and inquiries where one can inquire about newly arrived souls and when a friend or family member is due to arrive:
The great halls of rest:
Why it is wise to cultivate your personal spiritual world whilst still on the earth plane:
Daniel Dunglas Home (pronounced ‘Hume’) was a Scottish physical medium (1833-1886) who was reportedly able to levitate to various heights, speak with the dead and produce rapping and knocks in houses at will. Home stands unique in that many of the feats he allegedly performed have yet to be duplicated by anyone!
Arguably the premier psychic medium of the 19th century, Home came from humble beginnings in Scotland, and a long line of self-proclaimed psychics on his mother’s side of the family. One of eight children, he was too much for his mother to handle and at barely a year old, he was farmed out to an aunt and uncle. In his new home, it was reported that his cradle rocked by itself when he was in it. Something supernatural seemed to waft around Home from an early age.
Daniel Dunglas Home
Nadar, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
If there was a single word that best fit Daniel Douglas Home, it was arrogance. Considered by many to be the most gifted medium who ever lived, Home avoided contact with other Spiritualists, declaring that he had nothing to learn from them. Perhaps he was right, or perhaps he chose to bypass the common people because he preferred to use his purported paranormal powers in the company of the rich, royal, and famous. Regardless of the company he chose to keep, Home remains an enigma to many researchers today, especially those who consider Spiritualism to have been nothing more than entertainment and illusion for the masses.
Home was never caught in fraud but accomplished things far beyond that which even contemporary scientific opinion admits are possible. He operated at a time when numerous others were doing similar things and were caught in fraud, often after successfully deceiving many learned and seemingly competent observers. There are two possibilities: he was either a very unusual person, capable of doing the phenomenal things reported of him, or he was one of the most clever frauds in the history of humanity.
Home’s first vision
Home was a sensitive, delicate child of a highly nervous temperament and of such weak health that he was not expected to live. Adopted by Mrs. McNeill Cook, a childless aunt, he passed his infancy at Portobello, Scotland and was taken to the United States at the age of nine, growing up in Greenville, Connecticut, and Troy, New York. It was noticed that he had keen powers of observation and a prodigious memory.
He saw his first vision at age 13. A schoolfellow, Edwin, died in Greeneville and appeared to him in a bright cloud at night in Troy, thus keeping a childish promise to which they had bound themselves, that he who died first would appear to the other. Home’s second vision came four years later. It announced the death of his mother to the hour.
One night Home heard loud, unaccountable blows; the next morning, a volley of raps. His aunt, remembering the Hydesville rappings that had occurred two years before, believed him to be possessed by the devil and called for a Congregationalist, a Baptist, and a Methodist minister for exorcism. This being unsuccessful, she turned him out of doors. Consequently, although Home never asked for or received direct payment, Home appears to have lived on the hospitality of friends attracted by his curious gift.
Home’s first séance and early death
His first séance was reportedly sensational: dead relatives were contacted and a table danced around the room and could not be stopped by human intervention. Word quickly spread and Home became a sought after guest in the homes of New England’s upper-classes. Unlike many mediums at the time, Home never directly charged for his services, although his séance participants were generous with donations and gifts.
Home quickly set himself apart from the manner and methods of contemporary mediums. His séances generally took place in daytime or in brightly lit rooms at night. This, I believe, is the best way for physical mediumship to be developed and takes away the very fuel of a skeptic’s fire.
His demonstrations seemed fool-proof: a table with five men sitting on it moved around the room, and séances were never held in Home’s own lodgings (where he could have had accomplices or trickery set up), but always in the homes of the sitters. Most of the observers of his séances left believing Home’s gifts to be genuine. I do ask why such prevalent demonstrations are not seen today, as they would certainly cause skeptics a real problem.
In early 1854, Home was diagnosed with tuberculosis and his doctors recommended he journey back to Europe for the sake of his health. He settled into London– living for free at the fine hotel of one of his believers– and repeated the apparently genuine séances that he had exhibited in the USA. He moved within the upper-circles of society. He held séances for Napoleon III and Queen Sophia of the Netherlands and increased the phenomenon he was able to demonstrate. He added levitation to his repertoire and, again in well-lit rooms, Home would rise six feet off the floor in view of all present. His first levitation occurred in the South Manchester house of Ward Cheney, an eminent American manufacturer. Strains of music were heard when no instrument was near. The pinnacle of his career took place during a séance in 1868 when Home allegedly levitated, floated out of a third-story window, and floated back into the room via another window.
Eventually the tuberculosis caught up with Home. After more than 1,500 séances, he died 21 June 1886, aged 53 and was buried in France’s St. Germain-en-Laye cemetery. Later debunkers would propose various theories as to how Daniel Dunglas Home performed such seemingly inexplicable feats– ranging from the somewhat possible (mass hypnosis) to the bizarre (trained monkeys moving furniture, tiny musical instruments concealed in his moustache) this is absolutely laughable and shows the extent to which so called skeptic scientists and hard line skeptics in general will go to. Daniel Dunglas Home has never ever been proved fraudulent in any way.
But many of his demonstrations are still unexplained and he remains one of the most enigmatic occult practitioners in modern history.
Scientific investigations into Home’s phenomena
The first scientist to investigate Home’s phenomena was George Bush, a distinguished theologian and Oriental scholar from New York. The celebrated American poet William Cullen Bryant and a Professor Wells of Harvard University testified in a written statement to the reality of the phenomena. Professors Robert Hare and James Mapes, both famous chemists, and John Worth Edmonds of the United States Supreme Court owed much of their conversion to Spiritualism to this young man of frail health.
At that time, nobody understood the part the physical organism plays in the production of the phenomena. The demands made on Home were very heavy and the drain of nervous energy excessive. His intended medical studies were interrupted because of illness. A trip to Europe was advised and Home went to England in April 1855. He first stayed at Cox’s Hotel in Jermyn Street, London, and was later the guest of J. S. Rymer, an Ealing solicitor.
The conversion of many of the later leaders of the Spiritualist movement in England was attributed to Home’s phenomena. When these phenomena attracted public attention, Home found himself in the midst of a press war. Among the first who asked Home to attend a séance was Lord Brougham, who came to the sitting with Sir David Brewster, inventor of the kaleidoscope and remembered as the Father of Modern Experimental Optics.
Sir David Brewster
Scottish Scientists, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Home was proud of the impression he made upon these two distinguished men and wrote about it to a friend in the United States. The letter was published in the United States and found its way to the London press, whereupon Brewster at once disclaimed all belief in Spiritualism and set down the phenomena to imposture. At the same time, his statements in private supported Home, and they, too, found their way into the newspapers.
Lasting harm was done to Home’s reputation by Robert Browning’s poem “Mr. Sludge, the Medium,” which was generally taken to refer to Home. Browning and his wife, who accepted Spiritualism, had attended séances with Home. The poem was a malignant attack, since Browning had never claimed in public to have caught Home at trickery and in private admitted that imposture was out of the question. The reason for this vicious attack may have been jealousy over his wife’s enthusiasm for Home’s phenomena. As we know, sadly, jealousy is rife in the profession of Spiritualism as much as any other profession.
Other famous men of the day, such as Bulwer Lytton and William Thackeray, never spoke of their experiences in public. Thackeray made Home’s acquaintance in the United States when he lectured there. Both there and in London Thackeray availed himself of every opportunity of sitting with Home. He admitted to have found a genuine mystery and warmly endorsed Robert Bell’s anonymous article “Stranger than Fiction,” published in the Cornhill Magazine, which Thackeray then edited.
Bell’s account of a séance with Home starts with a quotation of a Dr. Treviranus to Coleridge:
“I have seen what I would not have believed on your testimony, and what I cannot therefore, expect you to believe upon mine.”
Thackeray was bitterly attacked for the publication of the article and it was said that the Cornhill Magazine dropped considerably in circulation as a consequence.
In the early autumn of 1855 Home went to Florence to visit Thomas A. Trollope. His name and fame soon spread there, too. False rumours arose among the peasants that he was a necromancer and administered the sacraments of the church to toads in order to raise the dead by spells and incantations. As we well know, all kinds of accusations are placed before us; perhaps the most daring being the Helen Duncan trial at which she was unlawfully tried and convicted of witchcraft under a 1753 law. At this moment in time (10/2/2017), an appeal is being launched by the Helen Duncan foundation.
The aforementioned false rumours may explain an attempt against Home’s life on December 5, 1855, when a man ambushed him late at night and stabbed him three times with a dagger. Home had a narrow escape. The attacker was never arrested, but Home was warned the following month by Signor Lan Ducci, minister of the interior to the grand duke of Tuscany, of his sinister reputation among the populace.
Summoned by Napoleon III
Napoleon III
Mayer & Pierson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
About this time, he was told by the spirits that his power would leave him for a year. In Home’s state of seclusion from supernormal contact, Catholic influences found an easy inroad into his religious ideas. He converted to Catholicism and decided to enter a monastery where he was received by Pius IX and treated with favour. Home changed his mind, however, and left Italy for Paris, where, to the day from the announced suspension, his powers returned. The news reached the French court and Napoleon III summoned him to the Tuilleries.
The story of Home’s séance with Napoleon was not made public. The curiosity of the press was aroused, however, when the first séance was followed by many others. An account of the first séance in Home’s autobiography, Incidents in My Life, tells how Napoleon followed every manifestation with keen and skeptical attention, and satisfied himself by the closest scrutiny that neither deception nor delusion was possible. His and the empress’s unspoken thoughts were replied to, and the empress was touched by a materialised hand that, from a defect in one of the fingers, she recognised to be the hand of her late father.
The second séance was more forceful. The room was shaken; heavy tables were lifted and then held down to the floor by an alteration of their weight. At the third séance, a phantom hand appeared above the table, lifted a pencil and wrote the single word Napoleon in the handwriting of Napoleon I.
Prince Murat later related to Home that the Duke de Morny told Napoleon III that he felt it a duty to contradict the report that the emperor believed in Spiritualism. The emperor replied, “Quite right, but you may add when you speak on the subject again that there is a difference between believing a thing and having proof of it, and that I am certain of what I have seen.”
Kings, queens, aristocrats and scandalmongers
Soon after these séances, Home left Paris for the United States and rumours were rife that his departure was compulsory. On his return to Paris, however, he was speedily summoned to Fontainebleau, where the king of Bavaria was interested in a séance. Home was in great power at the time and so much sought after that the Union Club, where fashionable sophisticates congregated, offered him 50,000 francs for a single séance. Home refused. A book, privately printed in France, recorded the strange experiences of the high society with Home’s mediumship.
Earlier, in Italy, Daniel Home had been introduced to the king of Naples. The German emperor and the queen of Holland soon joined the ranks of the curious who were besieging Home with requests for séances.While enjoying the benevolence of crowned heads and the highest members of the aristocracy, Home had to wage a desperate struggle against the scandalmongers. Fantastic stories began to circulate as soon as he left Paris, and while he was regaining his shattered health in Italy, it was even rumoured that he was in the prison of Mazas.
In Rome during the spring of 1858 Home was introduced to Count Koucheleff-Besborodka and his wife. Soon after, he became engaged to Alexandrina de Kroll, the count’s sister-in-law. The wedding took place in St. Petersburg. It was a great society affair. Count Alexis Tolstoy, the poet, and Count Bobrinsky, a chamberlain to the emperor, acted as groomsmen. Alexandre Dumas, a guest of Count Koucheleff-Besborodka, was one of the witnesses.
From Home’s marriage to Alexandrina de Kroll, a son was born. Shortly after, Home returned to England, friends tried to bring about a meeting between him and Michael Faraday, the famous scientist and proponent of the involuntary muscular action theory to explain table movement. As the Morning Star reported, Faraday was not satisfied with demanding an open and complete examination, but wished Home to acknowledge that the phenomena, however produced, were ridiculous and contemptible. Thereafter, the idea of giving him a sitting was abandoned.
Home derived more satisfaction from his experiences with Dr. Ashburner, a royal physician, and John Elliotson, sometime president of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, a character study of whom, as “Dr. Goodenough,” was drawn by Thackeray in Pendennis, and to whom the work was dedicated. When Ashburner became a believer in Spiritualism, Elliotson, who was one of the hardest materialists, became estranged from him and publicly attacked him for his folly. A few years later, however, Home and Elliotson met in Dieppe. The result was a séance, a strict investigation, and the conversion of Elliotson. On his return to London,nhe hastened to seek reconciliation with Ashburner and publicly declared that he was satisfied of the reality of the phenomena and that they were tending to revolutionise his thoughts and feelings.
Home’s phenomena also radically changed Robert Chambers, co-author with Leitch Ritchie, of the anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), which startled the public by its outspoken skepticism. Chambers attended the séance Robert Bell wrote about in Cornhill Magazine.
He was as was all too common, too afraid of losing his reputation to make a public statement, although he allegedly received startling evidence of continued personal identity from his deceased father and daughter. Nevertheless, Chambers anonymously wrote the preface to Home’s autobiography in 1862. Eight years later, during the Lyon-Home trial, he abandoned his attitude of reserve and gave an affidavit in Home’s favour.
For a time during 1859 to 1860, Home gave frequent joint séances with the American medium J. R. M. Squire, an editor of the Boston Banner of Light. Squire was introduced to London society under Home’s auspices and later in the year he was presented at court.
Duped by wealthy thief Jane Lyon
Home’s wife died in July 1862. Six months later, his book Incidents in My Life was published. It attracted widespread notice in the press. The Morning Herald remarked, “We must note also the strangeness of the fact that Mr. Home has never been detected, if indeed he is an imposter.” The book sold very well and a second edition was published in a few months. This, however, did not relieve the money problems Home began to experience. Relatives disputed his right of inheritance to the fortune of his wife, and, looking about for a means of livelihood, he decided to develop his keen artistic perception. He hoped to become a sculptor and went to Rome to study. Home also wrote another book called Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism.
His health, however, could not stand the strain. Friends came to the rescue with the post of residential secretary at the foundation of the Spiritual Athenaeum, a kind of headquarters for London Spiritualists. Then came the ill-fated proposition of Jane Lyon, a wealthy widow, that she adopt Home, with the intention of securing his financial stability. Lyon took a fancy to Home and proposed to adopt him if he added her name to his own, in which case she was prepared to give him substantial wealth. Home assented and changed his name to Home-Lyon. Lyon transferred £60,000 to Home’s account and drew up a will in his favour. Later she repented her action and sued him for the recovery of her money on the basis that she was influenced by spirit communications coming through Home from her late husband.
While the lawsuit was in progress, an attempt was made against Home’s life. He parried the blow of the assassin’s stiletto with his hand, which was pierced. The fantastic stories that were circulated around this incident are best illustrated by a reminiscent New York World report about his death. The paper stated that Lyon had a false left hand and Home actually made her believe that by mediumistic power, he could create life in the artificial limb.
Lord Adare, in his privately published Experiences in Spiritualism with D.D. Home (1869), covers most of Home’s work for the period 1867 to 1869, including some 80 séances. In 1869, the London Dialectical Society appointed a committee for the investigation of Spiritualistic phenomena. The committee, before which Home appeared, had some of the most skeptical members of the society on its list, including atheist spokesman Charles Bradlaugh. Four séances were held but because of Home’s illness, the manifestations did not extend beyond slight raps and movements of the table. The committee reported that nothing material had occurred, but added importantly that “during the inquiry, Mr. Home afforded every facility for examination.”
A fresh investigation, wedding bells, illness and levitation
Daniel Home (Creative Commons Public Domain - Free of known copyright)
In May 1871, Sir William Crookes began an investigation of Home and reached a very favourable opinion of what he saw. Before this investigation, other important events took place in Home’s life. He won the lawsuit for his deceased wife’s fortune, became engaged to an aristocratic lady of wealth, and gave several séances in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
During a lecture on Spiritualism, Home referred to some particulars of a séance held in the presence of a distinguished professor at the University of St. Petersburg. At the end of the lecture, a Professor Boutleroff rose from his place and announced that he was the investigator to whom Home had referred. This dramatic scene was followed by an investigation by a committee from the university. The results were negative, since Home’s powers were allegedly at an ebb because of recurring illness.
In August 1852, Home moved beyond what many would consider to be parlour tricks (although darn clever parlour tricks!) and first accomplished the feat that would make him famous. To put it bluntly, Home managed to fly!
The séance took place in the Connecticut home of Ward Cheney, a wealthy businessman. Also present that night was a local journalist, F.L. Burr, whose assignment it was to find something incriminating against Spiritualism in general and especially about Home, who had debunkers in an uproar with his excellent reputation. However, instead of writing an article that exposed Home as a fraud, Burr wrote:
“Suddenly, without any expectation on the part of the company, Home was taken up into the air. I had hold of his hand at the time and I felt his feet — they were lifted a foot from the floor. He palpitated from head to foot with the contending emotions of joy and fear which choked his utterances. Again and again, he was taken from the floor, and the third time he was taken to the ceiling of the apartment, with which his hands and feet came into gentle contact.”
A dramatic illustration of one of Home’s levitations. Did he really accomplish what most believe to be impossible? But how was this accomplished? Home claimed not to know himself. He stated that an “unseen power” simply came over him and lifted him into the air. Needless to say, most readers who came upon this article (and it was re-printed many times) were skeptical, as are most who come across it today.
Full-body levitation is, and always has been, considered impossible. Throughout history, only a few saints had ever been alleged to be able to lift themselves from the ground in such a manner, although some practitioners of strict meditation techniques claim to be able to manage a few inches from the floor today. Who knows? But back in America of the middle 1800’s, there was only one man, Daniel Douglas Home, who could levitate without the aid of mirrors, ropes or even a safety net.
Daniel Home’s most famous feat
Home was apparently at his best when it came to producing incredible phenomena. In December 1868, his most famous feat took place at the home of Lord Adare. During the evening, Home reportedly went into a trance and floated out the window of the third floor, then floated back in another window – all before the eyes of a number of stunned witnesses. The event occurred in front of three irreproachable members of London’s high society, Lord Adare, his cousin Captain Charles Wynne and the Master of Lindsay.
Skeptics contend the event was a mass hallucination or was somehow accomplished through trickery. They base this on the fact that there are slight discrepancies in the accounts of Adare and Lindsay, mostly concerning the size of the windows that Home floated out of, how high they were off the ground and whether or not the night outside was dark or moonlit. The debunkers ignore the statement of Captain Wynne, which was simple and straightforward:
“The fact of Mr. Home having gone out of one window and in at another I can swear to,” he wrote. “Anyone who knows me would not for a moment say I was a victim of a hallucination or any other humbug of the kind.”
In 1872, Home published the second series of his Incidents in My Life, including the principal affidavits in the Lyon lawsuit, and in 1873 he published his Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism. His opinions on fraudulent mediumship and his protest against holding séances in the dark were bitterly resented by other mediums. They said that he had little experience of the powers of others.
Kate Fox Jencken, of the Fox sisters, was the only medium with whom he was friendly. On a few occasions he sat jointly with William Stainton Moses. After the first such sitting, on December 22, 1872, Moses wrote in his notebook:
“Mr. D. D. Home is a striking-looking man. His head is a good one. He shaves his face with the exception of a moustache, and his hair is bushy and curly. He gives me the impression of an honest, good person whose intellect is not of high order. I had some talk with him, and the impression that I have formed of his intellectual ability is not high.
Home resolutely refused to believe in anything that he has not seen for himself. For instance, he refuses to believe in the passage of matter through matter, and when pressed, concludes the argument by saying ‘I have never seen it.’ He has seen the ring test, but oddly enough, does not see how it bears on the question.
Home quite strangely to my mind, accepts the theory of the return in rare instances of the departed, but believes that most of the manifestations proceed from a low order of spirits who hover near the earth sphere.
He does not believe in Mrs. Guppy’s passage through matter, nor in her honesty. He thinks that regular manifestations are not possible. Consequently, he disbelieves in public mediums generally. He said he was thankful to know that his mantle had fallen on me, and urged me to prosecute the inquiry and defend the faith. He is a thoroughly good, honest, weak and very vain man, with little intellect, and no ability to argue, or defend his faith.”
The last years of Daniel Home
Home slowly broke with nearly all of his friends and spent most of his time on the Continent. In 1876, his death was falsely reported in the French press. He lived in declining health for ten more years and died on June 21, 1886. His grave is at St. Germain, Paris, and his tombstone is inscribed “To another discerning of Spirits.”
In the Canongate of Edinburgh there is a fountain erected to his memory. It is not known who erected it nor why it was placed opposite the Canongate Parish Church.
Daniel Home demonstrated every known physical phenomenon of Spiritualism except apports and direct voice. He even possessed a latent faculty of direct voice. Faint whisperings were sometimes heard in his séances, but only of single words. He was mostly in a normal state during the phenomena but went into trance during the fire test, elongations, and occasionally during levitations.
The spirit teachings delivered through Home’s mouth by his control were sometimes absurd. The control, criticizing the knowledge of scientists, said that the sun was covered with beautiful vegetation and was full of organic life. When Lord Adare asked, “Is not the sun hot?” the control answered “No, the sun is cold; the heat is produced and transmitted to the earth by the rays of light passing through various atmospheres.”
Lord Adare, then earl of Dunraven, describes Home’s character in the 1924 edition of Experiences in Spiritualism with D. D. Home:
“He had the defects of an emotional character, with vanity highly developed (perhaps wisely to enable him to hold his own against the ridicule that was then poured out upon spiritualism and everyone connected with it). He was liable to fits of great depression and to nervous crisis difficult at first to understand; but he was withal of a simple, kindly, humorous, lovable disposition that appealed to me…
He never took money for séances, and séances failed as often as not. He was proud of his gift but not happy in it. He could not control it and it placed him sometimes in very unpleasant positions. I think he would have been pleased to have been relieved of it, but I believe he was subject to these manifestations as long as he lived.”
Sir William Crookes summed up his opinion as follows:
“During the whole of my knowledge of D. D. Home, extending for several years, I never once saw the slightest occurrence that would make me suspicious that he was attempting to play tricks. He was scrupulously sensitive on this point, and never felt hurt at anyone taking precautions against deception… To those who knew him Home was one of the most lovable of men and his perfect genuineness and uprightness were beyond suspicion…”
Frank Podmore, a most skeptical psychical researcher, said of Home:
“A remarkable testimony to Home’s ability whether as medium or simply as conjurer, is the position which he succeeded in maintaining in society at this time [1861] and indeed throughout his later life, and the respectful treatment accorded to him by many leading organs of the Press.
No money was ever taken by him as the price of a sitting; and he seemed to have had the entree to some of the most aristocratic circles in Europe. He was welcomed in the houses of our own and of foreign nobility, and had been received by the King of Prussia and the Czar.
So strong, indeed, was his position that he was able to compel an ample apology from a gentleman who had publicly expressed doubts of his mediumistic performance (Capt. Noble in the Sussex Advertiser of March 23, 1864) and to publish a violent and spiteful attack upon Browning on the occasion of the publication of Sludge (Spiritual Magazine, 1864, p. 315). His expulsion from Rome in 1864 on the charge of sorcery gave to Home for the time an international importance.”
Podmore added:
“Home was never publicly exposed as an imposter; there is no evidence of any weight that he was even privately detected in trickery.”
Long after Home’s death, various writers speculated on how Home’s feats might have been achieved by trickery, imputing that there must have been trickery.
It should again be noted that during Home’s entire spectacular career, he was never seriously accused of fraud (all of those accusations came much later) and he was never caught cheating, as so many of the mediums of the day were. It is also worth noting that this feat, like his other levitation, was accomplished in the home of someone that he was visiting for the first time and was among people of limited acquaintance.
Any opportunity that he had to rig up elaborate machinery or engage the services of an accomplice to do so was nonexistent. There is no evidence to say that he ever resorted to such tricks.
And who can say that he could have even if he had wanted to? When not ‘entranced by the spirits’, Home was not exactly a robust character, thanks to his tubercular condition. It seems that he would be the last person to have gone fumbling about on ropes and pulleys outside of the window of Lord Adare’s mansion on a cold December night. And how could he have rigged them in place anyway?
Of course, if we listen to the debunkers, it never happened at all. Home was nothing more than a hypnotist and a cheap conjurer and he convinced everyone present that he floated out the window. But isn’t it often the case that the incredible claims of the debunkers are harder to believe than accepting that the paranormal may have actually occurred?
Attempts were also made to discredit Home’s unfortunate association with Jane Lyon and to suggest that Home tried to take advantage of a wealthy widow. The evidence suggests that Home was pressured by a foolish and unstable woman. Her claim that Home used undue influence ‘from the spirit world’ is refuted by her transferring allegiance to a Miss Nicholls, another medium, at the time she reneged on her commitment to Home. It was also claimed that Lyon wanted Home to be “something nearer than an adopted son,” and her change of heart stemmed from his repulsing her advances.
Note: This article was originally published in the Afterlife Magazine by The Otherside Press which has since joined the PDN group.
Reference
Cover image of Daniel Home sourced from Wikimedia Commons
See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Pitfalls Of Online Mediumship and Circle Development
Just as the business community can’t do without social media interaction these days, nor can the spiritual community, but the mass upsurgence of social media in the spiritual community has developed quite a sinister undertone: from skeptics setting up mediums and unprofessional, substandard mediumship being touted as professional, to online development circles as the way forward for aspiring mediums.
Online courses are a plenty, with ‘certifications’ given out upon completion of an online course. Business is good. There are groups sprouting everywhere and it’s not long before you see the same personalities and experts, all with opinions on how, why and where. You have to wonder who is winning and who is losing, and if there any real benefit to working online in the modern world. Is spiritualism changing for the better or, in the move to the online world, is it losing face? Do we need to go back to the old school in-person circle traditions in order to develop our mediumship skills as best we possibly can? After all, in spirit, there’s no Facebook, X or Instagram. Well at least I don’t think so. Read on Macduff!
Social media and mediums
The reality is that social media with its online profiles an interaction, is a double edged sword. On one hand, it serves as a very good method of disseminating information and achieving what is known in the business world as brand recognition and authority. It has created new levels of business but has also given birth to a sinister monster.
Rather like the bible, which has a great basis for life and living, it too has been changed to suit the politics of the day, and like the bible, there is nothing but perception and opinion. It stands to reason that a balance must exist. For every yin there has to be a yang, and for every black there is a white. You see, we live in a world of opposites, each with its perfect law that creates a unique balancing act that can tip one way or another.
There are of course, good intentions and bad intentions. I believe that sums up the social media world with its lack of emotion and powerful method of information dissemination, which also can be full of disinformation and damaging influences.
Where has the divinity in mediumship gone or are we too late to this party?
Most people forget the divine reality behind mediumship and of course, spirit. A church is now just a show and no one wants to hear great philosophy from wonderful teachers. We have come to rely upon a more social culture to fuel our lives. The basic fundamentals of spiritual growth and development are often forgotten, hidden by agenda and a race to be at the top of the mountain in all endeavors. In a world where everything has become intertwined with a lack of patience, we now want physical phenomena to manifest in circles in the time it takes to brew a pot of tea - not in a matter of years. Does this all sound jaded? Perhaps a little, and for good cause. One only has to look behind the curtain to see what is hidden.
If you want to witness bad mediumship, which can damage the grieving by the careless choice of a single word, then just go online and see the new level of Social Media for Social Mediums. It’s no wonder our wonderful centers and churches are suffering. No one wants to go anymore. I mean, why would you when there are so many desperate individuals online trying to tout their craft and cloak it as spiritualism and mediumship? Pull up a chair, get online and in the spirit within seconds. But what about the issue of development? Well, that’s now online too.
You certainly don’t comprehensively learn the mechanics of mediumship and the importance of discernment online.
Let’s Come Full Circle
Deevelopment circle
So now we come to the mediumship development circle. At one time it was in the home or church circle – a closed development circle filled with love and the feeling of spirit. Circle members enter with excitement and anticipation of what great spirit has to share with us this week. Your teacher or circle leader creates a testing environment, guiding the students by what they feel and know, if spirit is actually connecting or if the student is blocking themselves. Where mediums not only develop their connection, but grow in spirit and in the time of spirit.
Instead, one can now simply sit on a chair or lounge in a bed and connect with others throughout the world – claiming space in an online development circle where professional mediumship is taught. It’s NESCAFE gold blend at its finest and voila, the next thing, there are groups of grieving people seeking guidance who are being pandered to by those who simply got a few things right – not knowing if it was simply psychic influence or really a divine loving connection. The grieving lose out in the long run by disinformation and bad, underdeveloped mediumship.
Benefits of Traditional Circles
Consequently, experiencing a real circle or development group in person has the added advantage of feeling real spirit within that circle – harnessed by the power of those who sit in love and harmony. The teacher is able to guide and support the developing medium by being able to feel those subtle nuances and vibrational changes through their own development experience and can certainly discern the level of comfort, fear or judgement.
In taking the realm of spirit to the online world, we place between us technology which has no discernment, and where the teacher can’t identify how the harmony and people in the group are working or what problems exist. We give our power to technology and forget the power and harmony of internalized spirit and development of spiritual gifts received from great spirit. When it comes your time to cross, you won’t be going there and announcing your arrival by a Facebook message or sending out messages in the hope Archangel Michael or your spirit guru will see how awesome you are.
“In the silence of service comes the greatest gift of the spirit that makes the soul shine!” JB
The circle is where we develop. In our daily lives, we monitor our thoughts and take awareness and action in thought and deed. When we return to the development of the circle or small group that meets in harmony under spirit guidance, the immediate change and development of the soul is clearly measured. The teacher can guide and help the student to understand the language of the soul as it should be.
Some Are Meant To Be Mediums – Some Not
I remember talking to a colleague, let’s call her K. We could both identify how some people who think they have connection, are not within the spirit vibration and merely on the material vibration where the psychic flow seems acceptable. This, of course, causes a false sense of security and does not follow when really helping someone who may be suffering loss. It’s all about the medium and not the connection.
Human needs are complex, but at the root of things is the need to be appreciated and needed and that can become unbalanced. It’s all about numbers and speed. As K would say, some are meant to be mediums and some not. I would have to agree, for it is more damaging to let an untrained individual loose with a gun.
The teacher or leader in a circle with enough experience is able to identify real talent and ability and nurture that individual into a great ambassador for spirit.
It does not matter how technologically advanced we get – real mediumship is born by spiritual development and harnessing the power of spirit within, not from an app, camera or online development group.
If you want to use the excuse that there is no one around to start a circle or to sit, then you have not looked hard enough because there is always a way and it may take a little sacrifice. Another colleague has a home circle while other members travel vast distances just to feel the power of spirit up close and personal. That is where I believe mediumship should grow, up close and personal and learning to feel the real power of spirit in that environment.
Yes, technology plays a role in learning and perhaps serving, but as I believe, not in development. That should always be old school and developed from within.
Note: This article was originally published in the Afterlife Magazine by The Otherside Press and has since joined the PDN group.
