Dead in the Water

“I love a sunburnt country,

a land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror-

The wide brown land for me!”

(From the 1904 poem “My Country”, by Dorothea Mackellar)

I’ve got a question, one which I’m fairly sure I’m not alone in pondering; can a place or object be cursed? Could an ancient curse be the reason for the 21 recorded deaths at an innocent-looking waterhole in a humid jungle in the tropical far North of Queensland, Australia? Could disregard for an old maritime superstition be the reason so many people who have come into contact with an old shipwreck in Western Australia- a wreck with a sinister reputation- have suffered bad luck, and some even death?

These are questions which warrant further exploration, and the locations pertaining to those questions are intriguing indeed, as are their stories. This country, although a “young” one in terms of European colonisation, has a history that stretches back into the dim reaches of time, with its Indigenous custodians, the Australian Aborigines, having arrived here well over 40,000 years ago. It also has a more recent history related to its use as a penal colony, one marred by bloodshed and brutality, and accordingly, abounds with ghost stories. The following two tales, however, are not so much about ghosts- although these are mentioned on occasion. These are stories of two places said to be cursed, and of those who were, perhaps, their victims...

THE “DEVIL’S POOL” - BABINDA, FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND

Deep within a verdant tropical rainforest in Babinda, Cairns, in Far North Queensland, lies a deceptively peaceful-looking pool of clear, invitingly cool water. But visitors to this location should avoid the temptation to swim here, and warning signs have also been posted prohibiting swimming; doing so has cost many an unsuspecting traveler their lives. This is the Devil’s Pool, and it has a sinister reputation. Over the past 60 years, roughly 21 people have lost their lives in these waters- most of them male, almost all of them white. Old newspaper reports indicate that there may have been more lives lost there before official records began, but the official death toll alone is enough to have raised both curiosity, and speculation that something was...wrong...with that part of the creek.

The Devil’s Pool, seen from above (image courtesy of Facebook/Scott Harty/FNQ Waterfalls page

BACK IN THE DREAMTIME

Babinda is an Australian Indigenous/Aboriginal word, and comes from the words “Bunna” (running water) and “Binda” (shoulder or rock), and is known to the Indigenous people in the area as a sacred place, but also, or at least to some, it is a known as a cursed place- an evil one. There is an old Indigenous “Dreamtime” (creation story) legend attached to the Devil’s Pool, which tells of a beautiful young woman named Oolana from the Yidinji tribe, who was promised to an elder from the same tribe, Waroonoo. A neighbouring tribe arrived in the area one day, and Oolana soon fell hopelessly in love with a handsome young warrior from that tribe named Dyga. Realizing they would be punished by their respective tribes for their adultery, the young lovers fled into the valleys, but were soon caught by the tribal Elders. Rather than face harsh punishment at the hands of the angry Elders, the distraught Oolana broke away from her captors, and threw herself into the calm waters of the creek of which the Devil’s Pool is part, screaming for Dyga to join her.

According to the legend, as soon as Dyga hit the water, the tranquil creek erupted into a rushing torrent, and in a section of the creek now known as the ‘washing machine’, the wailing Oolana disappeared among the huge boulders that lay scattered about submerged in the rushing water. Since that fateful day, Oolana’s spirit is said to be heard on occasion, crying out for her lost love, and is said by some locals to seek him still, by luring young men to their deaths in the Devil’s Pool; a story similar to those of the Lorelei of the Rhine river, or the fabled Sirens of maritime lore. The waters have thus also earned a haunted reputation, and tourists and travellers are warned not to swim there. However, according to some Indigenous locals in the area, there is a belief that those of their culture are quite safe to enter the water, and remain unharmed.

The rumours of Oolana’s spirit could likely be attributed to hearsay, as no confirmation of any encounters with her apparition are to be found, but the paranormal connotations that surround the site have nonetheless persisted for quite some time, as illustrated by the story of Patrick McGann...

Aboriginal artist Paul Bong’s painting depicting Oolana in the “washing machine”. (Image credit: Paul Bong)

The warning sign at the Devil’s Pool (Image credit: Cairns City Council website)

Diagram of the hazardous areas (Image credit: Safety report, Cairns City Council website)

PATRICK, IN THE POOL?

In the carpark adjacent to The Boulders, a plaque memorializes one young, white, male victim- a nurse from New South Wales named Patrick McGann who, as the plaque poignantly states, “came for a visit on 22/6/79...and stayed forever”. The small, sad memorial was installed at the behest of Patrick’s father Terry, who almost lost his own life in the same spot as his son while assisting local Police in the search for the body. In an article published in the Australasian Post newspaper on the 2nd of March 1991, Terry spoke about a photograph, taken for Police records, which he strongly believed that the photograph contains an image of his departed son, saying:

​“It (the photograph) was for police records and when it was developed the sergeant at Babinda took me quietly to one side. There was Pat’s face in the water. He looked exactly the same in both photos, even to the cigarette in his mouth. I’ve spoken to many priests about it and one told me ‘there’s a lot of things in life we will never understand. This is one of them.’”

The “ghostly” image, believed by his father to be that of Patrick McGann (image credit: “Haunted” , Pinkney, J., 2005)

A photograph of Patrick McGann, taken by his girlfriend a short time before his death. (image credit: “Haunted”, Pinkney, J., 2005)

While the image taken of the area where Patrick McGann drowned may to some show only rocks and churning water, the comfort the image brought his father- that of believing his son’s spirit continues after death- is not to be doubted, nor belittled; nor does it negate the possibility of something anomalous having occurred at the Devil’s Pool. Is that something a curse, a ghost, both of the aforementioned? Or, as is commonly believed and has been proven repeatedly, is the Devil’s Pool, with its strong underwater currents and watery hidden caverns, merely a treacherous place to swim? To the Indigenous locals, it’s a combination of both. Perhaps the priest who spoke to Terry McGann was correct, that there are things that can never be understood- and perhaps the mystery that surrounds the Devil’s Pool is one of those.

THE ALKIMOS: YANCHEP BEACH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The Alkimos in 1963, prior to running aground (image credit: Shipwrecks WA/ Australian Geographic)

Jutting in rusted, time-worn pieces from jagged rocks a short distance from the golden-white sands of Yanchep beach, about 56 kilometers north of Western Australia’s capital city, Perth, are the remains of what was once a ship with a long history filled with misfortune- and apparently also home to a resident ghost. Divers and fishermen are wary of the wreck, and some avoid it entirely. Tourists who visit the beach to photograph it have sometimes found that their cameras won’t work, and upon attempting to leave the beach, some have had their cars refuse to start. The story of this ship is unusual to say the least, and she has become the stuff of Australian maritime- and paranormal- legend.

BAD LUCK FROM THE BEGINNING?

Now known as the Alkimos, her story began in America in October 1943, when she was known as the George M. Shriver, and was one of the 2,750 ships collectively known as Liberty Ships. Often named after influential American public figures of that time, Liberty ships were known for their rapid construction, with a new ship completed in about 10 days, and mostly without any issues, but the Alkimos apparently proved an immediate exception to that rule, with her construction rumored to have taken six weeks to complete. This was only the beginning of the series of misfortunes that would plague the ship until the end of her seafaring days.

The Alkimos in her final resting place (image credit: shipwreckswa.com)

An old maritime superstition maintains that to change the name of a ship is bad luck; and yet the George M. Shriver, only 9 days after being launched from the dock at the Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards in Maryland on October 11, 1943, and upon being reassigned to the Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission on October 20th, was renamed the M.V. Viggo Hansteen, after the then-prominent Norwegian lawyer, politician and labour activist who was executed by the Nazis two years previously. This re-christening seemed to mark the beginning of the ship’s almost endless bad luck.

WAR WOUNDS

The Viggo Hansteen’s first wartime mission was as part of a convoy to Bandur Shapur, via the Mediterranean and the Suez canal, and in early 1944, she set sail with a crew of 47 members comprised of Canadian and Norwegian members. Soon after she steamed, somehow unscathed, through a convoy of German U-boats in the Atlantic, many of the ships around her were destroyed. However, this seeming good luck was to be only temporary, and the Viggo Hansteen beached herself on an uncharted reef shortly after. The next morning, however, she was mysteriously floating free again. Upon her return to New York soon after freeing herself from the reef, the ship was loaded with a cargo of ammunition and gliders, and a 28-year-old Canadian radio operator named Maude Elizabeth Steane joined the crew. She served on the ship for only a few months, then while the ship was unloading gliders in Piombini (or according to some reports, Naples), Italy, on August 14, 1944, Maude Elizabeth Steane was shot and killed by the ship’s Norwegian gunnery officer, who then turned the gun upon himself. Due to the horrific nature of the incident, the Military concealed the true cause of her death, and instead listed her as the first Canadian woman to die in active service, killed by enemy fire.

The rumour that the ship was jinxed began to circulate at this point, and the ghost of Maude Steane was held responsible. Then came the repeated, unexplainable breakdowns and mechanical faults, which saw the ship deemed a danger to the other vessels in any convoy she was part of. The Viggo Hansteen, at one point, was apparently in drydock more often than she was at sea. Crew turnover between missions was reportedly close to 100%, possibly due to numerous accounts of paranormal activity on board, and the belief held by crew members that the ship was cursed- a belief that seemed to be reinforced by the misfortune that touched a great many who had ventured on board the ship. An improbably large amount of crew members are said to have suffered injuries or illnesses, and others had family members die unexpectedly, or commit suicide.

NO PEACE IN PEACETIME

When peace was declared in 1945 the United States sold off its Liberty ships, and the Viggo Hansteen was sold twice more, with the first sale (to an S. Ugelstad from Oslo) occurring in 1946. In April 1952, she ran aground off the coast of New Zealand, suffering slight damage, and it was at that time that reports began circulating of sightings of a hulking figure dressed in oilskins, rubber boots, and a green seaman’s coat, being regularly seen on the deck. As is somewhat common with frequently sighted apparitions, the resident ghost was given a name- Henry.

After having run aground, the damaged ship was sold to owners from Costa Rica, who had her repaired, and then in 1953 she was again sold, this time to a Greek trading company, who acquired the ship at a bargain price. Once more, maritime superstition concerning changing a ship’s name was disregarded, and the ship was renamed the S.S. Alkimos, which was both the name of a Greek god, and their word for “strong”, and is the name she bears to this day. Under this name, the ship travelled the world’s oceans without incident for nearly a decade, until March 20th 1963 when, during a voyage from Jakarta to Bunbury, Western Australia, she hit Beagle Island Reef, near the city of Geraldton, north of Perth, Western Australia’s capital city. Having suffered heavy damage, the ship was towed to Fremantle (also in Western Australia), where she underwent repairs for two months.

After settlement of a dispute concerning payment for the repairs, the Alkimos left Fremantle under tow by the Hong Kong-based tugboat Pacific Reserves. Only a few hours out of port the tow line snapped in the rough waters, and the Alkimos was driven by the strong currents towards the shore. Although intact, the ship could not be refloated at the time, so she was beached north of Fremantle, filled with water to secure her in place, and left in the charge of an onboard caretaker, the first of a succession of people who were employed to stay on the ship to guard her. That first caretaker, an American exchange student named Wayne Morgan, later told staff at the hospital he was admitted to after his experiences on the ship, of the terrifying days and nights he had spent on board, often cowering fearfully in his cabin, too afraid to open the door; of witnessing an immense, misty, human-shaped figure stalking the decks; and of cabin doors being opened and closed unaided by human hand. He quit, terrified, and was succeeded by a married couple, who also quit after the pregnant wife fell while on board the ship, later giving birth to a stillborn baby.

SALVAGING SCARES

The Alkimos remained stranded north of Fremantle until early 1964 when, on February 28th, a tugboat from the Philippines, the Pacific Star, arrived and managed to refloat the ship. However, shortly after the return journey began, the captain of the tugboat was arrested and detained due to money he owed to a company in Manila. As the Alkimos was no longer legally allowed to be towed or offered aid by the Pacific Star, she was set at anchor between the reefs of Eglington rocks, roughly 4 kilometers south of Yanchep beach, where she was left abandoned. The Pacific Star was mysteriously set ablaze while in port awaiting legal proceedings, and the doomed Alkimos broke anchor 4 months later, drifting onto Eglington rocks, where she remains to this day.

The Alkimos as she looks now (image credit: Instagram/@matt.odonoghue.images)

Over the following years, a number of salvage crews and caretakers lived on board the Alkimos as they attempted to save what they could of the ship, but each of those attempts were in vain. The first salvage attempt was cut short after a fire somehow broke out on board and all work had to be ceased due to the ship having been more damaged than was first thought. Soon after, the Alkimos was sold by her owners for scrap. Numerous further attempts at salvage were made over time- twelve in total, but none were successful. In 1969, one crew of salvage workers were driven off the wreck after yet another mysterious fire, and it was becoming increasingly apparent, at least to those on board, that the ship was haunted. Workers reported having had their tools moved by unseen hands, and spoke also of tools vanishing, only to reappear later. Salvage crews would stay on board 24/7 while they worked on the Alkimos, and many would refuse to leave their cabins at night if alone, for fear of what they may encounter. Those that did muster the courage to leave often reported hearing footsteps following them. The sound of someone climbing one of the ladders to the deck above was also heard on one occasion, when all the crew members were accounted for. The sounds and smells of food being prepared in the galley were reported too, but these would cease when those brave enough to investigate them would open the galley door, only resuming after the door was closed again. These experiences terrified several men to the extent that they quit their jobs rather than face another night of fear on the ship.

Now permanently stranded, the Alkimos was bought and sold again and again. Each new owner experienced misfortune of some sort. Several declared bankruptcy, others became seriously ill. Once they sold the ship, however, they were apparently no longer plagued by bad luck. Years passed, and attempts to salvage the Alkimos stopped. Her partly-dismantled remains sat in several metres of water, gradually being claimed by the sea, and a source of great interest to the curious onlookers who would frequently gather on the beach...and the legend of the cursed, haunted ship only continued to grow.

HORRIBLE HENRY

Cray (crayfish) fishermen in the area soon began to report seeing an extremely tall man dressed in oilskins on the decks of the Alkimos, and at first it was thought he was a hermit who had taken residence on the ship, but when the ship was searched, no trace of human habitation could be found. Talk of a curse was further fueled by the discovery of a human skull, found to be that of champion long distance swimmer named Herbert Voigt, who vanished in March, 1969, while attempting to swim from Cottesloe to Rottnest island. An extensive air-sea search failing to locate him. According to some reports, his skull was found four years later lodged in the hull of the Alkimos, and although how this discovery was made has never been adequately explained, it only added further weight to the case for a curse. Curiously, Voigt’s planned route was to have taken him nowhere near the ship. A number of people who have been on the beach near the ship are said to have slipped and fallen, or have become ill after their visit. Horses ridden on the nearby beach would become nervous, some riders would claim, and would either bolt in terror, or even refuse to pass the ship.

JACK’S JINX?

The most impressive documentation of the strange occurrences on board the Alkimos comes from Jack Sue, a renowned diver in Perth, who was so affected by his experiences on board the Alkimos to such an extent that he wrote a book about them, titled “The Ghost of the Alkimos” (Wong Sue, J., 2001, Jack Sue WA Skindivers Publication). Originally having no belief whatsoever in the paranormal, Sue had his mind changed when, accompanied by a film crew and several fellow skindivers, he spent a hair-raising night aboard the now-notorious old ship, as host of the Australian television program “Down Under”. Soon after they set foot on board the ship, determined to prove that nothing paranormal was taking place, a series of strange and terrifying events occurred for which they had no explanation. Multiple people reported listening in sheer amazement as the sound of sneezes, accompanied by footsteps, echoed from an area below deck known by everyone to be empty. One skindiver felt the sensation of something large brushing past him, and then watched in abject terror as the figure of a towering man, clad in oilskins, passed through a solid steel bulkhead. Sue, while attempting at some point to sleep below deck, reported having heard what sounded like someone rolling over in an adjacent bunk- one which he knew was unoccupied at the time.

Several of those who spent the night aboard the Alkimos would later regret their adventures, as they too would suffer illnesses, misfortunes, and tragedies. Jack Sue collapsed the day after he set foot ashore, and was hospitalized for almost a year, with doctors unable to diagnose his illness; another man lost his business, and yet another lost his girlfriend in a plane crash. In 1997 Jack Sue, despite swearing decades earlier to never have anything to do with the Alkimos again, ventured to the beach with the clearest view of the wreck, and soon after this he suffered a severe stroke. In an interview published on the 18th of January 1998 in Sydney’s Herald Sun newspaper, Sue said of the ship whose malignant influence had touched so many unfortunate people:

“It’s probably just coincidence, but you never can tell with the Alkimos. I can’t help thinking of the number of people who’ve driven down that beach in four-wheel drives to photograph the wreck and had their cars break down, or their cameras fail, or their watches stop. That ship is bad luck”.

CURSED QUESTIONS!

Stories of “cursed” objects and locations can be found in countries and cultures worldwide. We’re left to consider the nature- the possibility (or lack thereof)- of the existence of such things as curses. Could it be that a “curse” is an accumulation over time of energetic “traces” left behind by successive events charged with emotional energy- akin to that which the well-known Place Memory/Stone Tape hypothesis championed by T.C. Lethbridge seems to suggest? Could a series of many negative events, such as those linked to the Devil’s Pool and the Alkimos, leave negative energetic “traces”, and could these then accumulate? Could this energy physically impact someone, and if so, how, and by what mechanism? Does a person have to believe in curses for one to work? Could events that are blamed on a curse all be simply unfortunate coincidences, and misperception of events which could have an alternate, non-paranormal explanation? Whatever the answer may be, and whatever the explanation for the events at both of the above locations, their stories of curses and ghosts remain intriguing to many today, and are perhaps two of the most fascinating in Australia’s paranormal history.

THE HAG GODDESS AND HER DAUGHTER

In Celtic cultures, the goddess of winter is the Cailleach, the old hag. The Cailleach is a wrinkled old woman with blue skin, rust colored teeth, and one immense eye in the center of her forehead. Her hair is long and wild and bone white. The goddess of winter appears at Samhain (Halloween) and rules until Beltane (May Day), when she is superseded by her daughter, Bride, the goddess of the spring.

By Internet Archive Book Images - https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14566397697/Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/wondertalesfroms00mack/wondertalesfroms00mack#page/n28/mode/1up, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43940524

As Patricia Monaghan writes in The Goddess Companion, quoting a Scottish song about the Cailleach:

“Her face had the blue-black shine of coal.

Her one bony tooth was red like rust.

Her hair was thick and dense and gray

like brushwood in a dying forest.

In her head was one eye like a pool,

swifter than a star in the winter sky.

That one stone eye in the hag’s head

moved quicker than mackerel after a lure.”

The Cailleach is more than a weather witch. She is a Neolithic Scottish creation goddess, a sort of giantess with amazing size and strength. The hag fashioned the Scottish mountains with her hammer. The goddess made the islands by dropping chunks of peat and rock from a basket on her back. Hikers see her hand print or footprint on rock formations.

Along with deliberate landscape fashioning, the winter goddess sometimes created land features by mistake. For example, after a long day of milking her deer herds, she lifted a rock on the side of Ben Cruachan to reveal a spring of fresh water to drink and bathe in. She was so tired, and the water was so refreshing, that she fell asleep without replacing the rock cap. When she awoke, the waters had rushed down the side of Ben Cruachan to form Lake Awe, the largest fresh water lake in Scotland.

The Cailleach, also known as the “Veiled One,” functions in many roles, including as a kind of wise old grandmother goddess. The hag crone gently encourages those whose earthly time is ended to cross to the spirit world while she stretches her veil across the winter landscape. Her association with Bride, however, indicates the promise of rebirth. She is a guardian and midwife of spring, for she protects the seeds so that they may sprout when her daughter comes to power.

The hag goddess of winter rides a wolf and has a particular affinity for black cats. She is also a fierce protector of all animals, especially horned animals such as wild cattle, goats, and deer. When her singing is heard in the forest, Scottish hunters give up their quest, knowing there will be no meal to catch.

Once, a desperate man with a large family to feed kept on searching until night fell, though not a deer was to be found. Eventually he built a fire, and inspired by the Calliach’s tune ringing through the forest, he sang a song about her clever ways. When he looked across the fire, the old hag was there with a twinkle in her eye. She explained that her herd was growing too large and she could use a brave hunter to cull it. If he would follow her song the next day, she would lead to him a deer he could shoot. From that time forth, he was always a successful hunter, thanks to the Cailleach’s respect for his cleverness in calling on her by singing her praises.

As the goddess of winter, the hag brings the wind, snow and ice. She plunges her staff into the ground to freeze it. Her magic can thicken lakes into icy slabs by dropping her plaid into the water. The Cailleach is also the goddess of the harvest, urging folk to gather in the crops when her gusts turn cold and the morning fields are rimmed with frost. In some places, a farmer’s wife makes a corn dolly, tossing it onto the field of a neighbor who has not finished his harvest. That neighbor, in turn, finishes and tosses it to another. Farmers are in fierce competition to not be the last to have the corn dolly, for then they will have to keep it throughout the winter, meaning they have to feed and house the winter hag all season as well.

As a goddess, the Cailleach has many complicated qualities that can be called upon by the worshipper. She has fierce strength, the power to both destroy and build, the power the protect life, whether of the animals or of the seeds, the power to grant the rejuvenation of deep sleep.

Deep in Glen Lyon, inaccessible by car, lies the tiny Glen Cailleach where an ancient indigenous shrine to the Cailleach can be found.

Tigh nan Cailleach, near Glen Lyon in Perthshire, Scotland By Richard Bisset - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10530829

Legend has it that if the small stone statues of the Cailleach and her husband and children are placed carefully inside this small turf roofed stone hut at Samhain (Halloween), the land will prosper. These same statures are brought out into the meadow in front of the hut at Beltane (May Day) to protect the land during the spring and summer months. The local people re-roof her hut at this time in a ceremony of gratitude to the Goddess. Researchers think this ritual has been performed at this site for thousands of years, and it is still performed today.

Matriarch of the glen: walking the Highlands’ hidden pilgrim trail

A walk to a remote pre-Christian shrine leaves our writer reflecting on the power of a mythical Highland woman – and how she is the perfect role model for our times

www.theguardian.com

The Cailleach has a famous daughter, the beautiful spring goddess Bride (known as Brigid in Ireland). The Cailleach is threatened by her daughter’s beauty, for it is so great that she is able to make ice melt and flowers grow merely by her glance. The Cailleach’s fear forces her to keep Bride imprisoned on the top of Ben Nevis, Scotland’s tallest mountain. Every day the hag forces Bride to do impossible tasks, and then punishes her when she fails.

One day, while Bride is trying unsuccessfully to wash the Cailleach’s plaid in the lake, a kindly old man appears. He is sympathetic to her plight and hands her a bouquet of snowdrops, suggesting that she show them to the Cailleach. The girl, determining she has nothing to lose, does so. The Cailleach, who knows that the flowers mean her power is beginning to wane, is furious. She rides to every corner of Scotland, shaking her staff and burying the land in snow, ice and frost.

Ben Cruachan, highest point in Argyll and Bute, home of the Cailleach nan Cruachan, By Graham Lewis - Ben Cruachan, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26172267

The kind old man turns out to be Angus, the prince of summer, in disguise. He rescues Bride from the imprisonment of the Cailleach and flies with her to the Isle of Summer. They dwell there happily, but the goddess Bride misses Scotland, so the couple returns to visit again and again. Each time, the sun shines brighter, the earth warms more, the trees bud and leaf, and the flowers grow more plentiful. The winter goddess throws wind and cold at them with less and less success, until finally the Cailleach gives up in exhaustion on Beltane (May Day), going to sleep again until Samhain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joKYWzzjuro

Bride, the Celtic goddess of spring, is welcomed across Scotland and Ireland on Imbolc (February 1) because Angus first rescues her then, and also because it is when ewes first give milk. Bride is not only the goddess of spring, but also of fire, of the forge, of light itself, of dawn, of fertility, of healing, of water (she has many holy wells and rivers associated with her), and of inspiration, especially for writing poetry. She is also associated with serpents, because they shed their skins and are thus symbols of regeneration.

Bride is a liminal goddess, meaning that she reigns over the in-between. Spring is a slow and subtle time between winter and summer. Dawn is a subtle time between night and day. Bride, according to legend, was born in a doorsill, thus neither inside nor outside.This goddess governs becoming, emerging, forming. She governs the forge, in which metal is formed, and poetry, in which meaning and image are formed. She governs water, which is the original womb of all life on earth.

One of her most ancient names was Breo-saighead, the fiery arrow, the goddess who brings light from darkness. The season of Imbolc does not bring the bright sun of summer, but rather the subtle shift of the angle of the sun’s rays slowly marches toward the equinox and eventually the summer solstice. Once again, she is a subtle goddess, the slow birther.

Labbacallee wedge tomb or "The Hag's Bed", near Glanworth, County Cork, By VisionsofthePast - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35693041

As a goddess associated with light, Bride is involved with spiritual wisdom, truth, healing, prophecy, and divination. These arts grow slowly to fruition, though their ultimate flowering may appear as a sudden burst. This is also true of the plant and animal kingdoms, where the slow period of gestation ends with the sudden birthing of a baby animal or a flowering tree. She is thus associated with healthy livestock and crops.

Fire, of course, melts snow and warms things. The Druids, who worshipped Bride, are said to have kept a perpetual fire alive in her honor. Such fires may have been burned for her up to the fifteenth century, by which time she had been conflated with Saint Brigid of Kildare and had found favor with nuns. The Druids also associated the goddess with their important bardic traditions, which preserved history through the recitation of poetry.

Today in Scotland, it is common to leave a strip of cloth or a piece of clothing outside on the eve of Imbolc so that it collects dew overnight. Bride bestows this dew as a blessing for the health and well-being of the family. People fashion special “Bride’s crosses” (AKA “Brigid’s Crosses”) from reeds or straw and hang them on the door for protection. Traditionalists eat special bannocks (Scottish quick bread), and may drink the milk of ewes if it is available. They cleanse the hearth of old ashes and lay a new fire for Bride. In homes lacking a hearth, people light candles in her honor. Young girls make Bride dolls of straw or reeds and carry them from home to home to bring blessings.

The weather on Imbolc determines the length of remaining winter. If the weather is sunny, the Cailleach is gathering a large amount of firewood and winter will be long. If the weather is foul, she gathers less and spring will come sooner. This Scottish tradition is the precursor to the American tradition of Groundhog Day. In this small way, the goddesses of Scotland still influence those of us in the “New World.”

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.

When Someone Appears: The Mystery of Crisis Apparitions

A quiet presence in an ordinary room, the kind many crisis apparition experiences begin with. People sometimes describe a moment that only feels strange afterwards. Nothing dramatic at the time. A sense someone is nearby. A quick impression. Occasionally a voice, or the feeling of being watched.

Then life carries on.

The phone rings later. News arrives. A death. An accident. Something serious.

Only then does the earlier moment return and feel different.

Accounts like this turn up everywhere. Different cultures, different periods, very similar descriptions.

What are crisis apparitions?

Researchers eventually began using the phrase "crisis apparitions" for experiences reported around moments of danger, trauma, or death. The definition is simple, but the timing is what draws attention.

Most reports are spontaneous. People are not trying to contact anyone. They are going about their ordinary routines when something interrupts them. Often the person involved is emotionally close. The experience tends to feel unusually clear compared to daydreaming or memory.

Not everyone interprets these moments the same way. Some treat them as coincidence. Others see them as psychological responses. Parapsychology tends to step back and look at the pattern rather than the explanation.

Early Psychical Research

Early psychical researchers began collecting firsthand accounts in an attempt to understand these experiences rather than dismiss them.

​By the late nineteenth century, people had started writing these experiences down more deliberately. Instead of passing them along as stories, they were being collected, compared, and discussed.

The Society for Psychical Research, established in 1882, became one place where this happened.

The aim was cautious. Members were less interested in proving survival after death than in asking a simpler question. Did these reports appear often enough to take seriously?

One ‘but project’, later known as the Census of Hallucinations, asked large numbers of ordinary people whether they had ever experienced a vivid impression of someone who was not physically present, particularly around important events.

Some investigators felt a pattern might exist around moments of crisis. That suggestion has never been fully settled, but the material itself continued to be referenced.

The Admiral Tryon Case

A distant ship fading into mist, echoing the sudden loss at the heart of many crisis apparition reports.

​One example often mentioned in this context is the death of Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon in 1893. Tryon led the British Mediterranean Fleet. During naval maneuvers off the Syrian coast, a command resulted in a collision between HMS Victoria and HMS Camperdown.

The ship sank quickly.

In the period afterwards, a number of people connected to Tryon reflected on impressions they had experienced around that time. The accounts themselves were understated. What drew interest was when those impressions were said to have occurred.

Researchers approached the case carefully. It was not treated as evidence on its own, but as a reminder of how these accounts tend to surface and how difficult they are to separate from memory, coincidence, and grief.

Patterns Across Reports

Across many reports, certain tendencies appear. Emotional closeness shows up repeatedly. Experiences involving strangers do occur, but far less often.

Timing is harder to assess. Many accounts are described after the person learns about the crisis. Memory shifts in those moments. Meaning settles in quickly. Researchers have always acknowledged that problem.

Closeness appears again and again in these reports. Experiences involving strangers do occur, but far less often.

The repetition is not dramatic. It is simply persistent, which is part of why researchers keep returning to the subject.

Psychological Explanations

Psychology tends to begin from connection. People remain mentally oriented toward those who matter to them. Worry, expectation, coincidence, and memory can overlap in ways that feel striking afterwards.

Another factor is reinterpretation. Moments that seemed ordinary at the time may be reconsidered once new information arrives. Memory adjusts quickly in those circumstances.

Experiences of presence after loss are widely reported and do not necessarily indicate anything unusual in a clinical sense. For many people they are part of ordinary grieving. Crisis apparitions may represent an earlier point along that same spectrum.

Parapsychological Perspectives

Parapsychology approaches the question from a different angle. Rather than dismissing the experiences outright, it asks whether extreme situations might coincide with unusual forms of information transfer.

Some researchers describe this in terms of spontaneous telepathy or emotional signaling. The idea remains tentative. If anomalous communication exists, moments of crisis would be the most likely place to look.

That position does not resolve the question, but it keeps inquiry open.

Modern Research and Experience Studies

Modern research methods often rely on experience surveys rather than individual case investigation. Large collections allow researchers to look for recurring features even when verification is difficult.

Online reporting has changed the landscape. People share experiences quickly, sometimes before timelines are clear. That creates both opportunity and complication.

Crisis apparitions now sit alongside research into bereavement experiences, deathbed visions, and anomalous perception more broadly. The boundaries overlap but the timing element remains distinctive.

Why the Topic Persists

Reflecting on experiences that resist simple explanation is where crisis apparition research often returns.

These experiences sit in an awkward space. They appear too often to dismiss entirely, yet not with enough consistency to explain comfortably.

For many people, the meaning comes first. Explanation follows later, if it comes at all. Even those who lean toward psychological accounts often note how distinct the experience feels.

Researchers, meanwhile, focus on recurrence. Patterns raise questions even when answers remain uncertain.

A Quiet Mystery

Crisis apparition reports are rarely dramatic in presentation. They are brief interruptions. A sense of presence. A glance. A moment that only becomes significant later.

The Tryon case shows how these reports enter discussion. It is not unusual in structure, which is precisely why it is referenced. The details matter less than the pattern it reflects.

What keeps the subject alive is not spectacle. It is repetition. People continue to describe moments in which someone seems to appear at exactly the point something changes.

The explanation remains unsettled. The pattern does not disappear.

Further Reading

Phantasms of the Living — Edmund Gurney, F. W. H. Myers, Frank Podmore (1886)

Census of Hallucinations report — Society for Psychical Research (1894)

Apparitions — G. N. M. Tyrrell (1943)

New Frontiers of the Mind — J. B. Rhine (1937)

The Founders of Psychical Research — Alan Gauld (1968)

Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century — edited by Etzel Cardeña, John Palmer, David Marcusson-Clavertz (2015)