Is Modern-Day Trance Mediumship Dead?

Looking back in history, one can find authentic examples of mediums with remarkable trance mediumship abilities, which were extremely rare at that time and are even more elusive in modern-day trance mediumship. The evidence that came from them was remarkable and when one part of a story could not be verified, you could be sure the information would be confirmed much later after serious inquiry – bringing it full circle and completing the evidential pyramid.

The teachings espoused by the trance medium could only be described as far beyond the understanding of the human soul trudging through the material journey. The wisdom put forth would challenge the human spirit and cause one to reconsider what could be perceived as truth. The medium in the trance condition brought forth substantive evidence and teachings from the realms of spirit. Challenging us to think deeper, sow seeds of knowledge and wisdom and help those suffering grief. Challenging the very way we see the material world.

The Relationship Between Medium and Spirit

When a medium was entranced by the joining of vibrations of spirits on the other side, there was no denying the quality of the entrancement. The level of the trance condition was deep enough that the mutual relationship between medium and spirit was undeniable. The spirit, under a mutually beneficial relationship of a divine order developed over many years, would learn how to work with the medium and get to know how to entrance and control the vessel, as the medium was known. This relationship was tasked within the higher realms of spirit which also meant that not only does the medium require long term development but so, too, does the spirit who has been tasked to work with the medium for a particular need using the trance mediumship faculties.

Gladys Osborne Leonard - 1882-1968 (Credit: Factspage.blogspot)

One such medium, who was probably the most tested medium of her time by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), was a British woman known as Gladys Osborne Leonard. Her spirit control ‘Feda’, had to go through long-term development, as did Gladys. Their relationship developed over considerable time in order to maintain the high vibrational level that was needed to achieve the equally high level of spirit communication.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category: Oliver_Lodge

Evidential Mediumship

The level of evidence that came through the many sittings and demonstrations was incredible – far beyond what is experienced today. Evidence that not only completed a story and answered questions but also included lessons from the other side. Loved ones received evidence that was considered astounding and scientific individuals such as Sir Oliver Lodge even changed direction in their belief because of the remarkable evidence received. Rev. Charles Drayton Thomas had over 500 test sittings with Gladys under testing conditions and kept immaculate logs of each sitting.

Rev. Charles Drayton Thomas

Gladys was always very amiable and cooperated with many SPR scientists and though some had questions, the validity of her standard in mediumship was revered globally. The many tests that she took part in would be unquestionable today because there are few mediums that could even reach that level of skill.

There are many other examples of past pioneers whose developed abilities brought forth amazing spirit evidence including a unique aspect known as cross correspondences. This phenomenon was set to change what we know about spirit intelligence. Let’s look at that now.

Cross Correspondences

So what are the cross correspondences? This term was coined by the SPR in the early years of the organization and was the phenomenon of automatic writing and transcripts that were received independently through entranced mediums under the control of spirit intelligence. The remarkable aspect was that though some of the information received would seem innocuous to some, there was a connection between other writings, statements, and individuals that were not connected to each other in any way.

Furthermore, the information was received at the same time in different locations across vast differences without any real relationship between the mediums. This would suggest a level of intelligence and intellect coming from the spirit personalities controlling the medium or vessel.

The conclusion was that such ‘correspondences’ were being deliberately created by certain recently deceased loved ones to convince them of life after death. The way this phenomenon would be conducted without prior relationship would mean there would be no other plausible explanations other than life after death was real. The level of trance and spirit intelligence was beyond reproach – concluding only that spirit intelligence was able to bring real verifiable evidence of life after death on many levels and not just from one communicative source to another. Now, let’s look toward the modern-day.

Trance Today – The Egoistic Trance Condition Devoid Of Substance

trance

What is accepted as modern-day deep trance, is devoid of any real level of spirit intelligence and certainly not any evidence that would stand up to the rigorous testing of the likes of “Lodge”, “Thomas” or “Myers”. One must contemplate that either the mediums are full of ego and feed on the adulation received, or that there is real ignorance as to what real trance mediumship is and the mechanics that would be accepted. Could there also be a negative aspect to it where the claimed entranced medium is ignorant and looking to fill their own material needs through misguiding others?

There is, of course, another side to the story in that perhaps those who claim they are deep trance mediums, really believe they are being entranced and giving spirit guidance. The reality, however, is very different because what people often consider and accept as trance has no real evidence at all; nor does it have any real substance to offer as there is often no real evidence of the other side to be had – instead, we have fanciful subjective interpretations.

One only has to look at the type of evidence from past trance mediums such as Piper, Leonard, Barbanel, Flint, and many others. Often the words of wisdom that are given through a medium who claims deep entrancement, is merely interpreted wisdom from their own font of knowledge and studies. There is no real capacity for the same level of wisdom teachings from the times of Silver Birch. Many individuals can reach the various, measurable brain wave states and have demonstrated this fact many times, but inhabiting or possessing spirit intelligence is generally not evident - nor exemplified in that state.

Other Ways to Reach Trance Mediumship States

Yogis, meditators, and other such individuals can also reach these states without possessing spirit intelligence. Whilst it is important to reach that state, it is only one tiny piece of a greater jigsaw puzzle. There are many other pieces that have to be found and placed in the picture. The relationship that has to be developed to reach the level of intelligence of a higher order takes time and development and when this intelligence is witnessed and experienced, there can be no question as to the validity of the spiritual intellect.

Few Deep Trance Mediums Match Our Past Pioneers

There is also a dangerous aspect that one could give oneself over to all too easily - an obsessive condition involving lower-level intelligences. A Deadly Departed podcast featuring psychiatrist and exorcist Dr Richard Gallagher addresses the topic of the existence of evil spirits and is well worth watching as it dives right into this possibility.

On the flip side, there are wonderful mediums that give information which is inspirational in nature and at times make contact with loved ones in spirit but in reality, this can be considered as an act of mental mediumship. In reality, there are very, very few deep trance mediums that manage to display the kind of trance mediumship demonstrated by our real pioneers of the past. It is of course possible and probable that it can be developed, but for now, a great many experienced mediums or under-developed young mediums, are claiming deep trance mediumship with no real understanding nor displaying any real aspects of evidential mediumship such as we have seen in spiritualist history.

The problem lies in the types of teachings and examples that are being accepted by developing mediums or the general public. As an example, deep trance mediumship was recently witnessed by an online group where participants with any reliable knowledge and understanding of the deeper mechanics, could not accept at any level that spirit was entrancing the medium. Where then, do we go from here?

Looking Forward

There needs to be serious development and study into the trance condition and science of a balanced nature needs to work hand in hand with the mediums of today in order to replicate and perhaps go deeper into the tests we have seen from past para-psychological experimentation. Trance mediums of a high caliber are few and far between and the amount of drivel being revealed as trance mediumship with no substance is even confusing our new developing mediums of the day.

Science working hand in hand with those who have some real level of trance development should be comparable and replicate the rigorous tests of the past and perhaps even break new ground.

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​Recommended Viewing

When A Loved One Dies Do They Visit You: How long Will It Take For Loves Ones to Communicate

If you have recently lost a loved one or friend, this video and the many uplifting personal experiences in the comments, will brighten your day. (Runtime: 12 mins)

Further Reading by Jock Brocas: Helen Duncan - The Medium Who Shook A Nation

Interview With Psychic Medium Nick Bell, NYC’S Secret Weapon

Interviewed by Loyd Auerbach (LA)

Psychic Medium Nick Bell

​I’ve known Psychic Medium Nick Bell for many years. Though he’s never been involved in any investigations of the paranormal, he’s certainly been deep into being psychic himself. While it’s likely you’ve never heard of him, he has had many high profile clients in politics, entertainment, and industry, in the US and internationally with his psychic abilities and his desire to help heal both people and pets. He’s been known to them as the “Manhattan Psychic Medium.”

As you’ll see in the interview, Nick is a great example of someone whose talents run across the divide of psychic reader and spirit medium, and whose heart is focused on helping people, whatever issues may be present in their lives.

Loyd Auerbach: Nick Bell, first of all, you've been doing psychic work for how long?

NB: Since I was 7 years old.

LA: Professionally, when did you start working with your first clients?

NB: Probably when I was, like, 18.

LA: Can you describe how you got started? Was this just something that happened to you? You just started having psychic experiences?

NB: I used to get a lot of images. I worked a lot with images when I was young. I used to get different things, and a lot of them were accurate, and I used to see things that are happening, and then a few days later, a week later, something like that did happen in the environment, or amongst friends, you know, things like that. But I count my first real psychic experience being when my Aunt Pauline passed away.: I was 7 years old. My mother didn't want to take me to the wake because my aunt was very close to me, and my father says, no, we have to take him. We were going to the funeral parlor, where she was laid out. We were going up the elevator on the second floor, and I saw my aunt in the elevator, wearing this maroon suit. It was the old-fashioned kind, with a white ruffle, with white pearls. She had a ring with a blue stone.

I said something and my father says, “Son, you have to keep quiet, she's passed away, you're not seeing her.” And then, when we went up to see the viewing of the body, she was wearing exactly what I saw. That suit, the exact suit, the pearls, the white, old-fashioned, shirt and the ring on her pinky.

LA: How did your parents react to that?

NB: They were just stunned. They just looked and didn't say anything. They just looked at me and nothing ever was mentioned again.

LA: You've had other experiences before you started doing readings for people. You’ve told me you started out picking up information about the future, precognition, and picking up all sorts of other information. I know you also do mediumship. When did that first start?

NB: That started, actually, with my aunt. That's what started it.

LA: You feel that when you saw your aunt, she was trying to communicate to you?

NB: Yeah, she was, exactly. And I saw her many times after that in my dreams. I saw many people in my dreams in spirit work.

LA: As you know, of course, I've written a book on psychic dreams, so I just have to ask you about this. We have dreams with people, living and dead, all the time. How did you know that the person was really a spirit in your dream versus just something from your mind?

NB: I really didn't know in the beginning, I didn't know if it was really spirit or if it was my mind. But after a while, while I was seeing them and receiving messages, it all started coming together. When delivering the messages during readings, I was telling people things I couldn't have known. It was evidence.

This was all later on when I started developing, learning from different mediums, from friends, from readings, stuff like that. I was able to realize that's where it was coming from, from spirits.

And one of my old teachers used to teach me that you should never second guess. Ever. Because that's the worst… if you're second-guessing, it's not real. Whatever you see, you have to say out loud. I learned, whatever comes to me first, I say it, regardless of what it is, because then it's real. If I hesitate, it's not.

And then, a lot of times, it’s both psychic information and messages from mediumship. A lot of mediums are both psychics and mediums.

LA: It’s been my experience working with mediums that some can do both a mediumship reading and a psychic reading of living people and events, but generally it’s one or the other when reading people.

NB: For me, sometimes it's psychic, and sometimes it's mediumship. Sometimes I might get a symbol. Maybe they're giving it to me, or maybe I'm getting it elsewhere from the universe, and so forth. My readings generally go back and forth.

LA: In the same session?

NB: In the same session. Sometimes it's very tricky. Sometimes it's all psychic, and sometimes it's all mediumship, and sometimes it's both.

LA: Can you can tell the difference? Do the two modes feel different for you?

NB: They do feel different. When I'm psychic, it's just, like, information. When I feel meaning, I feel a presence, that someone else is there. I feel something going on, like, my body feels like, you know, sometimes I get a little tense, I shake, for whatever reason. It varies, it varies.

LA: You mentioned not second-guessing, that you were taught that. That's certainly one of the things that everybody in parapsychology who teaches psychic development says, don't second guess.

NB: At all. Right.

LA: One is also interpreting when you second-guess, usually without all the information or communication for context. The best remote viewers, first have to get all their impressions out, and then they'll think about what they said or wrote down to try to make sense of it.

NB: For a lot of my mediumship, I've been very successful in bringing in spirit. The whole idea is to provide evidence, that they exist after death. To give clients evidence on things that I couldn't have known. Sometimes the information can be shallow, sometimes it can be deeper. Sometimes it could be 2 minutes of information, sometimes it could be 5 minutes, sometimes it could be 10 minutes. Sometimes it's nothing.

LA: How do you set that up with your clients before the reading?

NB: I let them know I work with spirit and work psychically. Sometimes I get clear images, but I usually tell my clients I'm going to be coming up with symbols or clear evidence. If some of it doesn't make sense, we'll try to make sense of it together. I like to use the client to try to make sense of it, and if they can't make sense of it, or I can't make sense of it, I let them take it with them. Maybe something will come to them later down the line, and then they'll say, well, yes, that was right.

For example, when reading for a client, I told her I just saw a red bicycle, crashing in front of her home. Normally, I really don't like to say negative things.

She said she didn't know about a red bike or anything like that. I felt this was true, so I didn’t know why I said it.

She calls me two weeks later, letting me know that she was coming out of the driveway, and she hit this kid's bike. It was a red bike. Fortunately, the kid wasn't hurt, but the bike got damaged. She reimbursed him for a new bike.

LA: Precognitive. You say you don’t like to say negative things. Why is that?

NB: I was taught from other mediums to. Because there's free will. Because it could be disturbing. And it could affect a person psychologically. In that case, it's not a good thing.

LA: Information about something negative could potentially help them avoid it if there’s enough information to do so. But too often, there’s not enough to avoid a bad situation or bad decision. But the worry about an upcoming bad situation could also cause the event, cause them to be overly cautious, whether there’s clear information about it or just partial

NB: Right, exactly. So, no bad news, because things can change with our free will.

LA: Let’s shift to mediumship. When you're connecting with spirit for somebody, do you occasionally get a person they don't want to hear from?

NB: They do, a lot of times. There was this one time I was at a spiritualist church. The resident medium was one who taught me a lot. The first half of the time had the real medium reading. In the second half, everybody gets a chance to try.

When it was my turn, I connected with someone. All of a sudden, my foot started hitting very hard on the floor. “Come here, child” came out of my mouth, and one of the persons that was attending the church ran out. She ran right out.

And then later on, after the service, the on-hands healing at the end of the church service, the gathering, holding hands, we broke up, and went down for coffee.

The lady who ran out came back and saw me. “I'm sorry, I barged out,” she says. “That was my father, he used to beat me up, and he used to hit his foot all the time. And he just passed away 2 weeks ago, and I'm glad he passed away. I hated him.”

And then she says, “but I still forgive him.”

I said that was good. I told her what I was taught, that when people cross, nobody holds grudges. Everybody forgives.

LA: Yes, that's typically what I hear from other mediums I’ve worked with and observed.

NB: Everybody's forgiven, there's no animosity, there's nothing. You're in a new environment. Nothing, nothing is bad in the spirit world, everything is good.

LA: Great story. Beyond that example, when I've watched some of the readings by the Forever Family Foundation mediums and other mediums I’ve worked with, somebody will say “I'd really like to talk to my mother,” and the father will come through, or vice versa. The person says, “I don't want to talk to my father” but that’s who’s coming through.

NB: Right. And it does happen. Sometimes I get an uncle, sometimes I get somebody else's relative.

Recently, I was sitting with a client and a friend of hers, named Alberta. She wasn’t trying to connect with him, but Alberta’s husband came in. He had just passed away. I described him perfectly, she said.

And then, I said I don't know why he keeps saying, “Robert, Robert!”

She actually fell off her stool. And she said, “That's what he called me.”

The spirit said, “I don't like calling you Roberta, I'd rather call you Robert.”

She said she didn't believe in any of this stuff, but now that she met me, she said she’s a believer. There's no way I could have known.

LA: That’s the kind of evidence that we like to see when we're judging a medium. It's often the little things, not the big things. But you're not in control of who comes through, they – spirits – are in control of who comes through, right?

NB: Exactly, because according to what I know about mediumship, they have jobs to do on the other side. Or sometimes they don't want to come to you because they don't want to make things more hurtful for you. Or maybe they're busy, or maybe it's not the time. There could be a million factors.

LA: That mention of timing just jogged my memory about a question that came up from some of my students in one of my classes. They were asking about how soon after a person died should the living try to contact them?

Let's say that someone has either a parent or a child or a sibling that dies. How soon or how long after that death do you think that people should consider going to a medium? Should there be a waiting period?

NB: Sometimes. I've had clients with loved ones who passed away a few weeks before, or just a few days before the reading.

For this one reading, I saw a bottle of Jack Daniels and this frail gentleman drinking it. And I told the woman that “he’s lifting his glass to you.”

She said, “That's my husband, and he drank Jack Daniels.” The wake and the funeral was the day before she saw me.

I picked up more. I got this faucet that wouldn’t stop. Water was leaking in the bathroom. I didn't know what that meant, but I had to give it to her.

And she started laughing. She said, “When we went to the wake the day before the reading, the bathroom went really berserk with running water.”

LA: It sounds like because she started laughing, she was she was ready for the reading. She was not in deep grief.

NB: Sometimes it can take a while for people to be in grief. Sometimes people forget, and they don't even grieve after they accept it somehow. And then a month later, it comes back to them. It's very difficult. Some people take it better than others. For some people, grief hits them hard.

LA: I do know what you mean.

Let’s move on to another topic. Do you talk to people about how to recognize their abilities and/or develop their abilities?

NB: Yes, I do.

LA: Let’s say that I came to you as a client, got a reading from you, and then said something like, “I think I might be a medium because I keep hearing from spirits.”

NB: I would tell them that's great. I advise them to try it amongst friends and see the reactions you get. Pay attention to their comments.

You might have that gift. Read books about it. There's a million ways you can take this, and you just have to do it. There are no easy ways.

LA: So, it’s more about practice and feedback.

NB: Practice! I might give them a few exercises. One is the old blackboard thing.

See an old blackboard with your mind’s eye. Write a question on that board. Then erase it and see if an answer appears.

And then they could come back and tell me their experiences for my feedback.

LA: Are people more psychic as children?

NB: Yes, you're usually more psychic when you're a young kid. You see more as a youngster than you see as an adult.

I lost it at the age of 10 for a while.

LA: That’s actually all too normal in Western culture.

NB: Around 18, it started coming back slowly. Then I was being taught by different people, I read a lot of books on the subject. But I'm not the kind of medium that likes to say, oh, this is how they have to do it. I'm just a utensil, whatever you want to call it.

LA: You're a medium, and the whole idea of a medium is somebody who's an intermediary between two things.

NB: Exactly. Whatever comes in, comes in. And I told people that I don't know what I'm going to get. I might get people. Sometimes I work with symbols. Sometimes I hear, sometimes I see, sometimes I feel, and whatever I give you is what I can give you.

I can help you and guide you in questions. I get astounding answers, and people are so happy.

I could guide them to what they should do for the loved ones who have died. I might tell them to set up a little memorial of the loved one. Put a picture, light a candle. Tell them you love them, that “I'll always love you, you'll always be in my heart.” Because they will be in your heart, they always live in your heart.

And then at some point, “you might see them in a dream, because they do come in dreams.” That I believe in, because they've come into my dreams so many times.

LA: How do you feel about physical signs? Like somebody has a relative that dies who collected butterflies, and all of a sudden, there's a swarm of butterflies around them.

NB: That's interesting. He's giving a message. I believe that he's coming back. I believe that they do come back.

LA: Do you feel that you’re providing guidance for the clients?

NB: I try to guide them, and I have been very successful in guiding them. And, I have a 99% success with people being happy with the reading, and people come back happy.

LA: That's good, that's good.

NB: For the reading, I’ll say, “Can you ask me questions?” And then I'll go into a light trance and try to give answers, whether they come psychically or mediumship.

And they've been pretty accurate, you know? And again, like, I like to work with them. That's a good way of saying, let's work this together. You make them feel part of it. I’ll say, “Maybe I can't explain all. Maybe you can, because maybe I'm misinterpreting. I’m just going to give to give this to you.”

LA: There's a lot of psychic practitioners who just do an information dump. They just kind of give information, they don't interact in that way.

NB: No, I like to interact. I say, “Let's work with each other, let's try another approach, let's do this, let's do that.” And spirit is involved as well. I try to give them the most I can.

I'm also a very big fan of prayer. And I say, whatever your denomination is, you can be Jewish, Catholic, whatever you want. Please pray for that person, always. Because when you pray for that person, it's strong. When another prays for somebody else, it's stronger. So I say, I'm going to pray for you.

LA: Do you have any clients who are atheists? What do you tell them?

NB: Well, if they're an atheist and they say they don't believe, then maybe this is not a place for you to be here. I've never run across an atheist yet in my practice.

But I like to tell people to pray for their loved ones, set up a little shrine. And also, if somebody's in grief, I tell them, pray for them. They find comfort at the time, some healing. Pray, because the prayers are for comfort.

LA: If you did get an atheist, you can still say that. Just let them know that prayer doesn't have to be to God. What you're asking them to do is think, to put emotion and energy towards the memory of the person, and their spirit.

NB: Right, exactly. Just send a good vibe. You could just send a good vibe. I do send good vibes and my clients tell me they feel them.

LA: Are there strong similarities in your readings or are they very different from one another?

NB: Every read is different and might work differently. One thing I learn each and every time is a new experience. We are always learning. We are all students and continue to learn and grow.

LA: When you start receiving information during a reading, how do you relay it to the clients?

NB: You have to just spit out whatever you get. If you get a frog, it could have been your pet as a kid or represent that your mother… it could be anything. It could be a million things. We go from there to see what it might mean.

LA: Let’s switch over to how you explain what you do to new clients. If you got a call from someone asking about getting an appointment, about how do you work and so on, what do you tell that potential new client?

NB: I say I do mediumship. I do psychic work. I cross between one and the other. I try to get information. I try to comfort you. I try to guide you. I let them know I might work with my helpers, my guides.

You can have a session with me, and I'll try to see what the answers are coming through the universe, whatever source or guides. I'll try to assist you in what you need at the time.

I don’t answer questions about investments or health, ever. But somebody might say, why am I not finding a man? I might look into this to see what’s right for the client, rather than look at the negative. Perhaps it’s because it’s not meant to be right now, that there are other things that are in store for you.

Or maybe you’re really here to help others, even though you’re struggling, and not meant to meet somebody at this time. I try not to go too deep in that.

It depends where they are, you know? Yeah. But I like to guide them into a… I kind of…
in many ways, I become an intuitive life coach. Not just a life coach, an intuitive.

LA: I like that title.

NB: I ask for the guidance through the universe to give me something, and if I get it, I'll give it to you. If I don't, you'll go to the next question, because maybe it's not the time for you to know this.

When I finish, I tune in to the whole universe to send that loving energy to the client. I might feel beautiful colors. Whatever I feel, I ask the universe to please send this to this client right now for the highest and the best.

LA: So you close your readings with that kind of energy?

NB: With a nice intention.

LA: That's good. I think intention is the right word.

NB: Yeah, intention. And what I do is, for the rest of my life I pray for that client. I send good energy. At night, I look at the names of past clients and others.

I send good vibes to every client every day. So, every client I have, I have their names. I just tell them I’m going to be sending some universally beautiful energy to them for the highest and the best. I close my session that way.

LA: Have you gotten any feedback from clients about that after the readings?

NB: Yes. People have felt my energy at night. Sometimes I send healing to them at night if they need it. I've had at least 60 to 65% of my clients feel some kind of light touch, a touch of comfort. It’s the right thing to do.

I'll do that every night.

LA: Thanks, Nick.

NB: My pleasure.

Athens Ancient Sites, Mount Penteli’s Ghostly ‘Cat People’ & Other Divine Mysteries

Stephen Arnell 2023

In 2023, I returned to Athens, one of my favourite cities, for a look at some of the lesser-known ancient sites, a number of which I failed to notice on earlier visits.

These included of caves, caverns and grottos, all of which have mythic/legendary associations and in one particular case, is deemed one of the most haunted places in the world.

One evening I was dining in the appropriately named Cave of The Acropolis tavern when my eyes were drawn to the caverns that pepper the prominence that to this day, still dominate Athens. Probably the most well-known is the Choragic Monument of Thrasyllos; first created circa 320 BC by Thrasyllos, a judge at the Great Dionysia, the ancient theatrical Athenian festival.

The marble fronting provided the ornamental entrance to a large natural cave; the monument survived for almost two thousand years but was severely damaged during the 1827 siege of the Acropolis by the Ottoman Turks. People are rarely allowed to visit the cave, due to health and safety concerns whilst lengthy restoration work grinds on; the stairs to the entrance are also less than safe.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_into_Choragic_Monument_of_Thrasyllos.jpg

The architect-restorer of the monument, Konstantinos Boletis (a former president of the Scientific Committee for the Preservation of the Acropolis Southern Slope Monuments) took a lucky blogger inside to view partially restored post-Byzantine frescos (now under plexiglass to prevent water damage) and a marble icon depicting the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. During the Roman era, a statue of Dionysus once stood in the cavern; the famously light-fingered Lord Elgin (of course) removed it, and the sculpture is now on display in the British Museum.

Courtesy of the British Museum

And supposedly this earlier statue of the god, also pilfered by Elgin and housed at the British Museum:

Choragic Monument of Thrasyllos - My Favourite Planet

The Choragic Monument of Thrasyllos on the south side of the Acropolis at My Favourite Planet

www.my-favourite-planet.de

One would assume such a place would be home to many mysterious unexplained sights, lights and sounds; and in a general ‘historical flashback’ way it is, as is the rest of the Acropolis, with reports of strange echoing voices and people in ancient garb glimpsed after dark.

But the Monument of Thrasyllos has perhaps surprisingly little; the cave was visited by Athenians who would pray for the health of their sick children and was also where adulteresses would be publicly shamed. Perhaps the sobbing of the unchaste women and the cruel mockery of their accusers can still be heard.

Maybe by customers at the Cave of the Acropolis, distracted during mouthfuls of their delicious meze:

Tavern Cave of Acropolis in Plaka

spilia-acropolis.gr

The monument seen from the Theatre of Dionysus:

Stephen Arnell 2023

The Temple of Asklepios

Stephen Arnell 2023

The Asclepieion of Athens was built in honour of the gods Asclepius and Hygieia, on the southern escarpment of the Acropolis. When Christian worship eventually quashed the ancient pantheons, the monuments of Asclepius were smashed and the resultant spoila used for a spacious, three-aisled Early Christian basilica. However, chiming with an increase in native Greek belief in the old Hellenic Pantheon, partial restorations have been undertaken to Doric Stoa façade, the room of the Sacred Cave and the temple of Asclepius itself.

The Secret Cave of the Acropolis and Its Holy Water - GreekReporter.com

A well-kept secret of the Acropolis is a cave hiding an ancient Asclepius temple with a spring of holy water, as later Christians believed.

greekreporter.com

Inside the cave, there was the Sacred Spring of Asclepius, with its water revered for its healing powers, supplicants would go there to heal and worship the god of medicine.

Will those seeking the healing hands of the deities ever return to the Sacred Cave? Maybe they already have...

Greeks Return to Worshipping Gods of Ancient Greece - GreekReporter.com

Greeks have returned to worshipping the ancient gods as groups dedicated to the adoration of the Greek Pantheon spring up

greekreporter.com

Sanctuary of Aglauros

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sanctuary_of_Aglaurus_on_the_Acropolis_on_March_7,_2021.jpg

Only in 1980* was the cave identified as the one dedicated to Aglauros, the daughter of legendary King Cecrops, who sacrificed herself to protect the city from invasion.

* archaeologists found nearby, an honorary stele for Aglauros, dating to the 3rd century BC.

The Cave of Apollo Hypoakraios

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeus_and_Apollon_Ipakrion_caves_7233908.JPG

The Cave of Apollo was a shrine on the north slope of the Acropolis, dedicated to Apollo Hypakraios, ‘Apollo under the High Rocks / Under the Long Rocks’. According to the playwright Euripides, it was the birthplace of Ion, the product of a liaison between Apollo and King Erechtheus' daughter Kreousa. Ion became the progenitor of all the Ionians. Impressive.

The Klepsydra

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Klepsydra_paved_court.jpg

The Klepsydra (formerly called Empedo) is a natural spring on the north-west slope of the Acropolis hill; Empedo was the name of the tutelary deity of the spring, an Attic nymph. Does the nymph still linger there?

https://www.jstor.org/stable/146770

The Cave of Pan

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_cave_of_Pan_on_the_north_slope,_looking_out.Photograph_by_William_St_Clair,_2_October_2013.jpg

Furry-legged and cloven-hooved, the pipe-playing god Pan earned his place on the Acropolis by causing panic and fear amongst the Persians, helping mightily the victory of the Greeks in the battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The sound of pipes and hoarse laughter have often been heard nearby, but that may just be emanating from the lively Plaka below or the delightful Anafiotika Cycaldic village, which nestles on the slopes of the Acropolis itself.

A story of Pan from 1980s England:

And his appearance in the 1964 fantasy/morality tale The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao

The Shrine of Pan on Apostolou Pavlou Street

Archaeological research in the old City’s Apostolou Pavlou St revealed man-made carvings in a rocky outcrop that led to a mysterious underground chamber. ​Further excavation uncovered a relief chiselled on the bedrock, representing Pan, a naked Nymph and a dog.

The cult of Pan in caves is well documented in the countryside of Attica as well as inside the ancient city during the 5th c. BC. Further excavation on the chamber’s exterior unearthed wall paintings and a mosaic, dating to late antiquity, when paganism became officially frowned on, and later proscribed.

Sanctuary of Pan - reviews,open hours,photo spots,things to do | WanderBoat AI Trip Planner

All You Need to know about Sanctuary of Pan before your trip | create your own travel plan at WanderBoat.AI

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Shrine_of_Pan_from_Apostolou_Pavlou_Street_on_November_12,_2019.jpg

Stephen Arnell 2023

The Cave of Zeus Olympios or Zeus Keraunios

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeus_and_Apollon_Ipakrion_caves_7233908.JPG

The largest of three caves (the others dedicated to Apollo and Pan), naturally enough housing the sanctuary of Zeus - King of the Gods.

Acropolis north slope part 1 - My Favourite Planet

The north slope of the Athens Acropolis and the Klepsydra at My Favourite Planet

www.my-favourite-planet.de

Athens Sanctuary of Eros and Aprhrodite

Wikimedia Commons

The open-air Sanctuary of Aphrodite and Eros was identified in 1931 by archaeologist Oscar Bronner, on the basis of two rock-cut inscriptions; one refers to the festival of Eros and the second names the goddess Aphrodite. The excavation of the Sanctuary revealed fragments of marble statuary and dedicatory carvings, clay vases, figurines and carved plaques that displaying male and female genitals. The worship of the two love-themed deities would have taken place in front of the shrine. During the ‘Festival of Arrephoria’ young Athenian girls brought secret offerings to the goddess Athena, passing at night through the hidden underground passage located in the Sanctuary of Aphrodite and Eros.

Delving deeper into the Arrephoria rite

A few days ago, I spoke about coming of age ceremonies in ancient Athens, and referenced the Arrephoria (Ἀρρηφόρια) festival. Today, I want...

baringtheaegis.blogspot.com

The Nymphe Sanctuary

Stephen Arnell 2023

In front of the partially restored Odeon of Herodes Atticus there lies the Nymphe Sanctuary, where numerous dedicative inscriptions were found, offerings of the virgins of Athens desiring the support of the nymph for happiness in their forthcoming marriages. “Good luck with that”, as the saying goes.

Interestingly, the walls of the Acropolis are bolstered by archaic-appearing Doric columns from an abandoned (due to the Persian sack of Athens) version of the Parthenon, called the Pre-Parthenon I.

Columns built into the Acropolis walls

When walking in Plaka, the historic district of Athens, just below the Acropolis, look up and you will see the Erechtheum. Right in front of it, built into the wall, you will notice huge round bloc…

aristotleguide.wordpress.com

Stephen Arnell 2023

Athens’ Prison of Socrates

Stephen Arnell 2023

Nearby to both the Acropolis and Athenian Agora, on the Hill of the Nymphs is a cave-like structure said to be Prison of Socrates - or an ancient bath. With eight rooms acting as prisoner's cells it could indeed be a State Prison; it would be the place where Socrates was incarcerated on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth of the city before his execution in 399 BC.

The jury convicted him by a vote of 280 to 221. Athenian law allowed a convicted citizen to propose an alternative punishment to the one called for by the prosecution and the jury would decide. Instead of proposing he be exiled, Socrates suggested he be honored by the city for his contribution to their enlightenment and be paid for his services. The jury sentenced him to death by drinking poison hemlock. ​Before the execution, friends offered to bribe the guards and rescue him so he could flee into exile. He declined.

During WWII, the building was used to hide antiquities of the Acropolis and the National Archaeological Museum, sealed up behind a thick concrete wall, in order to protect them from the thieving Nazis.

An alternative theory is the prison was near the agora, in the ruins where small cups were found in the drains, believed to be used for administering hemlock.

Wikimedia Commons

No word of Socrates’ ghost haunting the site; but his teachings are very much still with us. As no doubt he would have wanted.

Stephen Arnell 2023

Athens Develis Cave, Mount Penteli - the ‘Most Haunted Cave in the World’

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Penteli,_Davelis_Cave_-_Church_of_SS._Spiridon_and_Nikolaos_(1990)_01.jpg

Mount Penteli near Athens, Greece is the location of the ancient quarry from which marble was cut to build the Parthenon and other great structures in the city during its brief golden age.

The cave is 60 meters (197 feet) long and 20 meters (66 feet) and boasts a network of tunnels, one of which leads to an underground pond, another to Hell...

Nineteenth-century brigand named Davelis and his outlaws used this cave as a hideout, hence the name. Inside the cave is a double Byzantine church built directly into the rock; one half is dedicated to St. Spyridon, the other to St. Nicolas. Deeper into the cave, an older god was worshipped—our friend Pan. Artifacts excavated from the Pendeli cave depict Pan and his nymphettes. A peculiar finding from the cave was a naturally mummified body of a woman, now at the Museum of Criminology in Athens.

To visit the cave, there is no public means of getting past neo-Penteli village. The cave has no guards or gates, so it is unprotected. Locals and nature enthusiasts are wary of some who visit, due to vandalism and accounts of apparent occult satanic sacrifices...

The cave has long been associated with stories of paranormal phenomena, including peculiar sightings (ghostly figures, two-legged ‘Cat People’), alien visitors, ‘unnatural’ music, mysterious voices, electronics going berserk and water rolling upwards!

In the 1960s and 1970s, paranormal investigators began their exploration, with UFO sightings also added to the stories associated with the cavern. Investigations were hindered by malfunctions in technological devices, such as cameras and flashlights, and peculiar behaviour from some self-proclaimed experts.

In 1977, reports supposedly claimed a group of workers and technicians from an unnamed, but well-funded organisation put up barbed wire around the cave and began using dynamite and bulldozers; guards turned away curious members of the public. People bandied around theories that NATO, the U.S. government or mysterious international cabals were constructing a nuclear bunker/missile hub, or even extradimensional portals, possibly including a magnetic channel connecting the cave to the CIA HQ in Langley, West Virginia.

Oddly enough though, after a while, the guards ceased zealously restricting access to the cave, allowing holes to be cut through the wire fences blocking the entrance.

The stories began again: a couple going on a hike discovered a car perched dangerously on a ledge close to the cave in a location which seemed physically impossible for it to be in; the wife looked into some nearby bushes around and began screaming uncontrollably.

She claimed to have seen a creepy small oval shaped creature with two bulbous glowing eyes staring at her. Her husband saw bushes shake as if an animal had just scuttled by, and a few days later, was unhinged by what he told his spouse was a floating black sphere spinning wildly outside his car window.

In 1983, the work crews terminated their efforts, but left behind some of the equipment used in their strange labors. The ancient church and natural cave networks had been severely damaged, artificial concrete corridors had been dug, some only half completed. Finally in 1990, the Greek ministry of culture finally stepped in to prevent any more damage to the important archaeological (and other?) remains in the cave.

Explanations for the unusual phenomena in the cave centre on disturbances in the local electromagnetic fields. The work done by the clandestine organisation in the 1970s may have been driven by interest in this; neuroscientists, such as Michael Persinger (Laurentian University), posit pulsed electromagnetic fields influence human perception, making one feel there’s an unearthly invisible presence in a room.

​Places that are supposedly haunted usually exhibit unusual electromagnetic activity; cameras, flashlights and other equipment tended to break down in the cave, very possibly due to electromagnetic interference.

Experimental facilitation of the sensed presence: possible intercalation between the hemispheres induced by complex magnetic fields - PubMed

This experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that the sensed presence, the feeling of a proximal sentient being, can be evoked within the laboratory. Under double-blind conditions, 48 university men and women were exposed to weak (100 nT to 1 muT), complex, pulsed magnetic fields that were ap …

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This Is Your Brain on God

Michael Persinger has a vision – the Almighty isn't dead, he's an energy field. And your mind is an electromagnetic map to your soul. Over a scratchy speaker, a researcher announces, "Jack, one of your electrodes is loose, we're coming in." The 500-pound steel door of the experimental chamber opens with a heavy whoosh; two […]

www.wired.com

Link to The Penteli Cave Enigma – A Place of Unexplained Phenomena Since Ancient Times (Ancient Origins)

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/penteli-cave-0011268

Athens’ bizarre underground phenomenon

Just 40km north of Athens lies a vast cave where visitors have reported water dripping upwards, ghostly voices, electronics going out of control, glowing orbs and more.

www.bbc.co.uk

Stephen Arnell’s novel THE GREAT ONE, is available to purchase on Amazon Kindle. A new book on the dictator Sulla entitled THE FORTUNATE ONE, will be published later in 2026.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-One-Secret-Memoirs-Pompey-ebook/dp/B0BNLTB2G7