Jock Brocas is a spiritual author and teacher with books published internationally. Jock is also the president of the charity organization assmpi and works tirelessly to he others develop spiritually and live a more rewarding life. Join Jock Brocas on a spiritual journey.
http://jockbrocas.us
Scene outside a Highgate tavern, 'Horns', 1796 (Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient London Fayres
Greater London has many arcane traditions centred on the annual ancient fairs granted by monarchs to the various ‘villages’ in the area. I lived in suburban Pinner for much of my younger years, where thousands flock to an event established by King Edward III in 1336. As with many London fairs, the occasion in its earlier days was often rowdy, licentious, and even violent, with fears stoked of ‘outsider’ ne'er-do-wells entering the village, keen on mischief of all kinds.
Aside from the fair (and being the former home of Sir Elton John), ‘Metroland’ Pinner has some fame as the place where the ‘Floating Coffin’ of William and Agnes Loudon can be observed:
"More like a carnival of the very worst and most vulgar class than any fair in the country." The Morning Chronicle, 1857
During the c17 Restoration period flotillas of boats would fill the Thames, bringing would-be merrymakers down from London to Charlton: “It was a carnival of the most unrestrained kind, and those frequenting it from London used to proceed thither in boats, disguised as kings, queens, millers, &c., with horns on their heads; and men dressed as females, who formed in procession and marched round the church and fair.” (Old and New London: Volume 6.)
Writing in 1703, William Fuller commented, “I remember being there upon Horn Fair day, I was dressed in my landlady’s best gown and other women’s attire, and to Horn Fair we went, and as we were coming back by water, all the clothes were spoilt by dirty water etc. that was flung on us in an inundation, for which I was obliged to present her with two guineas to make atonement for the damage sustained.”
Nowadays, the Charlton Horn Fair is a family-friendly event, but its origins are an intriguing blend of legends and actual historical occurrences. Famous for its obsession with horns, the fair saw them worn, sold, carried, and displayed by the throngs who flocked to it.
Why?
No less than six different reasons are generally given:
A Pagan Fertility Festival
In many ancient pagan cultures, horns were traditionally associated with fertility and virility; it’s a possibility that Horn Fair began as a way to celebrate the harvest and promote fertility.
Horny King John
Bad King John, weary from hunting, entered a miller’s house in Charlton. The young, beautiful wife of the miller was at home, her husband busy milling, but he returned home unexpectedly to find the king ‘enjoying’ his wife and drew a knife on the tumescent monarch. John revealed his identity, and the miller, eventually mollified somewhat to see that this was no ordinary nookie-fiend, asked a boon of the king. He consented, granting the miller a sizeable piece of land on the Charlton side of the river Thames, as far as the point near Rotherhithe.
There was a nasty condition of John’s though - the miller would have to perambulate annually on that day – October 18th – with a pair of buck’s (cuckhold’s) horns on his head. Which gave birth to the tradition...
Putignano (Apulia, Italy) - Thursday of the Cuckolds (Wikimedia Commons)
During the horned Thursday, the "Accademia delle Corna" elects the "Great Horned of the Year" among the leading members of the population.
St Luke’s Day
The 18th of October is the saint’s day, and Luke is the patron saint of the local parish church. In medieval times, he was represented in writing with a winged ox or cow by his side – apparently a representation of sacrifice, service and strength.
The Magna Charta de Foresta
Horn Fair may be connected to the Magna Charta de Foresta (Charter of the Forest – 1217/1225), a lesser-known ancient document issued a few years after the Magna Carta. It relaxed the brutal forest laws enacted by King John (him again).
Buchel, Charles A.; Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852-1917), as King John in 'King John' by William Shakespeare (Wikimedia Commons)
The charter also reduced the size of the land controlled by the king, making it more available for the peasants to use. So, the Charlton Horn Fair could originally have been a way to celebrate this.
The horns may have been worn as a symbol of the plebs’ new-found freedom to hunt on the land, supported by the fact that the Charlton Horn Fair, as well as several other Horn Fairs around England, date back to the reign of John’s son King Henry III, who signed the Forest Charter.
The Charlton Horn Fair started with a parade from Bermondsey to Charlton, with revellers wearing horns and blowing on musical versions of them. Many revellers were in fancy dress, with cross-dressing a common theme.
As with other Horn Fairs, Charlton’s became famed for indecency, with attendees engaging in drunken sexual behaviour. Daniel Defoe echoed the feeling of the more prim local residents when he wrote:
‘Charleton, a village famous, or rather infamous for the yearly collected rabble of mad-people, at Horn-Fair; the rudeness of which I cannot but think, is such as ought to be suppressed, and indeed in a civiliz’d well govern’d nation, it may well be said to be unsufferable. The mob indeed at that time take all kinds of liberties, and the women are especially impudent for that day; as if it was a day that justify’d the giving themselves a loose to all manner of indecency and immodesty, without any reproach, or without suffering the censure which such behaviour would deserve at another time.’
Daniel Defoe’s A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1726)
Cuckold's Point - Stag worship and the Horned God ?
Some believe Celts greeted the dawning of the new year at the geomantrically-aligned site, as “Ancient Celtic religion cast the year as a contest between the gods of winter and summer for the favor of the goddess of the earth. The god of summer claimed victory at May Day, but at Samhain the god of winter, who was also lord of the dead, was victorious. Celts often depicted the god of winter with "cuckold" antlers which he shed each autumn like a stag.” (The Celtic New Year)
The fair ended in 1872 due to the many outrages committed there over the centuries. Despite the ban, the Horn Fair was unofficially celebrated in the 1920s, and made an official comeback in 1973.
Sadly sans the smut.
The 1872 The Daily News stated the fair closed due to being, "a week of burglary in the parish, the demoralization of servants, and so general a reign of the Lord of Misrule over the place that the locality took months to recover its tone."
A Morning, with a View of Cuckold's Point (where the Horn Fair procession began) by Samuel Scott, c1755 (Wikimedia Commons)
Bartholomew Fair ‘school of vice’
The even more riotous medieval Bartholomew Fair was suppressed in 1855 by the city authorities for encouraging debauchery and public disorder.
Charlton House east side. Charlton House is an Elizabethan manor house which still lies at the heart of Charlton Village, this photo shows the Mayor declaring the annual Horn Fair open (Wikimedia Commons)
Another prong-related activity, Highgate’s Swearing on of Horns
The Swearing is an irreverent pledge traditionally given to new customers at various pubs in the north London suburb of Highgate from the 17th to 19th centuries, and has since been revived, like many folkloric events, such as New Year Wassailing.
The ancient oath consists of a series of statements read by a clerk, confirming one's dedication to general merriment and debauchery, ending by kissing or saluting a set of horns, and thence be entered in a logbook for posterity. Participants were then awarded the title of "Freemen of Highgate".
The oath, in brief:
"You must not eat brown bread while you can get white, except you like the brown the best. You must not drink small beer while you can get strong, except you like the small the best. You must not kiss the maid while you can kiss the mistress, except you like the maid the best, but sooner than lose a good chance you may kiss them both."
In Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Lord Byron mentions the vaguely bacchanalian ritual:
"Many to the steep of Highgate hie;
Ask, ye Boeotian shades! the reason why?
'Tis to the worship of the solemn Horn,
Grasped in the holy hand of Mystery,
In whose dread name both men and maids are sworn,
And consecrate the oath with draught and dance till morn."
In 2007, the venerable The Flask pub conducted the ceremony with a set of 200-year-old ram's horns taken from the Coopers Arms, as part of their beating the bounds festivities (the Roman or Anglo-Saxon tradition of whacking local landmarks with branches confirming a shared mental map of parish boundaries).
Wikimedia Commons
Becoming Freemen of Highgate conferred several privileges, including kissing the prettiest lass in the tavern; if no bonny women were to be found, the new initiate had to take whatever was on hand.
If a sleepy Freeman was in need of a rest when in Highgate, he could boot a pig out of a ditch and take its place. If there were three hogs, he was limited to chasing away the middle one and kipping between the others. A skint Freeman could have free drinks for himself and his friends at any pub in Highgate; however, if cash was found on him (or passed to his friends) he had to buy a round of drinks for the entire inn.
An ancient cave known as Jack Cade's cavern (after the late-medieval Kentish rebel who may have hid there) lies underneath the site of an old stone circle at Maidenstone Hill on the edge of Blackheath Common, known as ‘The Point’.
"Of great antiquity and unknown use", the cavern was a chalk mine apparently hewed out by antler tools, containing four large and three small chambers, with a well at its farthest end.
Effigy of the Horned God at Jack Cade's Caverns. 77 Maidenstone Hill, Greenwich, London
The ancient carving of the Horned God is just within the entrance.
Party Invite to the Cavern
In 1780, a local builder discovered it and erected a cottage to claim the land, then built 40 steps down, charging sixpence a head for the curious to enter. The cavern soon became a go-to place for parties and debauchery. A bar was set up, and a chandelier hung from the roof, making it a popular spot for balls, booze, and fornication.
This naughtiness resulted in authorities closing up the ancient caverns in 1853/4. At the beginning of WWII, the local council went to assess their suitability for air raid shelters, finding perverted Victorian graffiti, wine bottles, and the seedier remains of the debauchery that had occurred under the surface world. But the caverns were assessed as structurally unsound and were closed again, with the exact location now supposedly lost, although 77 Maidenstone Hill is the most popular choice for the old entrance.
Blackheath Cavern Main Chamber August 1939
In July 2002 a sinkhole appeared on the A2 road, near to where the cavern network is thought to be. Shades of 1982’s Poltergeist?
This article was originally published in The Afterlife Magazine by The Otherside Press which is now part of the PDN family.
Why Personal Development is Crucial in Mediumship
The journey toward becoming a medium can be a very exciting one — full of first-time, mind and soul altering experiences. After all, coming to know the unseen world in very personal and passionate ways is incredibly fascinating and unique, and no one pathway is ever quite the same.
Along the road, we take classes, workshops, seek out mentors, read a plethora of books, and venture on many roads-less-travelled in search of a powerful connection to ourselves, the spirit world and the universe at large. One thing, however, that we can sometimes miss is the call from within to tend to personal blocks and wounds that may exist within our very selves.
We can sometimes be so motivated to help the other – to find ways to ease the suffering and spur the growth and healing of those who might need our help – that we miss the very first and most crucial aspect of any spiritual work, which is healing the self.
Getting It Right With Personal Development
As intermediaries between the worlds, Mediums have the honor and privilege of relaying messages of importance from those in spirit to those here in the living. But along with that ever-important task, the vocation carries with it tremendous responsibility to ‘get it right’. But what does ‘getting it right’ even mean?
It has been a fascinating journey over years of teaching and mentoring new mediums to develop and hone their skills. Skill development alone is a long-term commitment. It requires care, attention, focused learning, and practice.
Progressing from your first real contact with a spirit person to sitting as a professional in service to others (and being consistently good at it) can take years, indeed.
Development circles, classes and having peak spiritual experiences are all par-for-the-course in the unfoldment of a mediumship practice. And each of these aspects of development and learning are critical — absolutely required.
Expanding Soul Consciousness
In the teaching of hundreds of students, some of whom are excellent professional mediums, intuitives and healers, I have consistently found tremendous value, and necessity, in moving beyond just the skill development aspects of mediumship.
As much as understanding and mastering the ‘mechanics’ behind spirit communication is an essential part of the learning process, so too is the development of greater levels of one’s soul-consciousness (you could also think of this as becoming more spirit-like, or shifting into a greater identity of self as a soul rather than just a personality). This process of transformation of identity or level of consciousness usually has to be preceded by some level of healing within the personality or ego bodies.
Guiding students to enter into their own wounding, in search of meaning, purpose and eventual healing, should be as much a part of the long-term syllabus in mediumship development as exercises and experiences with the formless.
Personal Development and Healing
Healing is a big word, though, and it can get lost in a sentence quite easily. What exactly is meant by ‘healing’? I have always found the word itself needs to be understood more clearly, and in order to achieve that, we must anatomize it — we must unpack it a little.
Whether you are a student of mediumship or a soul journeyer, unpacking the term healing is all-important. For me, healing is about extracting the learning that is available to you out of a negative or wounding experience and then integrating that learning or growth into your life in a meaningful way.
The healing process really begins when we are able to assign or identify some meaning and purpose behind the challenges or the ache. When we are able to see what good can come out of it. Then we can step into the power to create our life out of what we are left with and make something meaningful out of it.
To discover meaning and purpose and eventually enter into the healing, we must touch the wound. We must find it. And we must come to know it honestly — deep as ever.
No Mud, No Lotus
Image: Canva
This is the part of personal development that can be scary — because it can hurt. But with the right guidance or mentorship from a soul-based coach, counsellor, or other trusted and soul-conscious individual or professional, you can absolutely enter into the woundedness and shift into healing. It is a beautiful universal truth and promise that following the darkness, we will enter into light. The light, or the new version of ourselves, isn’t about restoring who or what we were before. Rather, it is a re-birthing of our new selves.
But we must truly and authentically walk through that darkness, taking with us all there is to learn and know about the experience — no by-passing, no puddle jumping.
Walking through the mud is a good way to think of it…and the mud will eventually lead you to solid ground if you keep going. This truth is also demonstrated through the phrase, “No mud, no lotus”.
We all have the choice to walk through the dark and make our way to the light, but conversely, we can also enter into the shadow and choose (consciously or unconsciously) to not walk through to the other side – into the learning, the freedom, and the growth. Each of us has free will choice to do as we please. And may we never judge the choices of others, but rather see them (and ourselves) as we are, with a heart full of love, compassion, and kindness.
Understanding Universal Truths
Image: Canva
Within the context of mediumship, personal development involving shadow and wound work hold much relevance. When spirit people transmit messages, the mediumship messages are usually two-tiered in that they touch two levels of a reality; they touch the specific or particular and form aspects of a reality, and they are also steeped in the universal aspects of a reality – also referred to as a greater reality than what the form world so easily perceives.
Their messages at the surface can be specific and pertinent and often very resourceful in nature. For example: “Getting fired from your job was necessary for you, even though you can’t see how it’s beneficial from your current viewpoint. A new opportunity is sitting in the field of potentiality for you, once you have done a little more processing of the anger and fear that surfaced after you lost your job. Consider being open to opportunities presented to you by a close female friend”.
Behind (or more accurately, above) the resourceful message will be a universal truth being communicated. Strip away the details, and what is the spirit person saying?
Filtered upward into a universal nature or theme, this message is stating various universal realities that need to be communicated, some of which could include:
– All that we experience holds meaning and purpose, even if we can’t identify what they are right away
– Doors will close that are not meant for us
– Doors will open when the timing is right and appropriate for us, and not before or after
– There is no blame to be issued and the consciousness of blame is heavy and non-life-affirming
– While we have experiences within a life that are pre-planned by the soul, we also have free-will choice. This means that certain experiences will not come into our earthly life unless and until we have met other factors, which we reach through our own conscious choices to move forward and look at something with a deeper, more soul-infused lens
– Perceived negative experiences (wounds) highlight within us our own shadow – the parts of our soul consciousness that are not active, not identified with. In this way, woundedness is a powerful experience that points us in the direction of where we need to grow – it shows us our own shadow that is asking to be illuminated by the light of soul – it shows us parts of our soul that we are disconnected from and not identified with
– All woundedness teaches us to stop relying on others to fulfill the needs of our soul and empowers us to self-generate the qualities we want and need to experience. This puts us in a power position in our own life rather than in a victim consciousness. Because of this, we can and may eventually be grateful for the wound
Would you believe that in addition to the specific message about being fired from a job, spirit wanted you to say all of this stuff, too? Well, they did, indeed. Fully transitioned souls in the otherworld are conscious beyond what we can perpetually obtain while here in form — while we are still influenced by and expressing through the form bodies.
The vibrational frequency of a transitioned spirit person far exceeds what we can achieve for any appreciable length of time while in form.
Their consciousness or lens through which they ‘see’ things is always one of knowingness, lovingness and power, and as such, they want to impart this level of insight and wisdom to their loved ones here in the physical world. Why? Because they want to help in our personal development - our understanding, healing, and growth.
Honoring the Role of Messenger
This leads us to our own growth, personal development, healing, and understanding of the nature of spirit and the universe at large. Because spirit people wish to have universal truths and realities communicated to their loved ones here in the physical, and we as mediums have made a commitment to honor the role of messenger, then we must be equipped to share the messages: undistorted, unfiltered, unbiased.
If we do not tend to our own personal work throughout the journey of becoming intermediary between worlds, then we will have no personal understanding of universal truths because we will not have experienced the manifestation of those realities in our own lives. If we have no lived experience, then how will we be able to communicate these levels of truth to someone else?
Universal truths such as: our thoughts and beliefs create our experiences, consciousness or soul survives physical death, hard experiences are teachers for us, we have agreements with others souls in our life, everyone is doing the best they can from the level of consciousness they have, in the language of the universe there is no pass or fail, there are simply experiences, etc. are best known and expressed to others from a place of lived experience.
If we have not successfully walked through some level of wounding to healing ourselves, how can we help lead someone else there, authentically?
There is a case to be made for any individual who walks into their hurt and pain to emerge more empowered, more loving, more understanding, and more soul-conscious. Becoming greater versions of ourselves is one of the gifts we can give ourselves during the earth walks we choose. The case is of even greater importance for those who wish to be the messengers for the other side.
Managers often heard the melancholy sobs of a little girl...
Wikimedia Commons
Mere minutes from where I lived for much of the 2000s/2010s, is the Clerkenwell (old) Prison, aka the Clerkenwell House of Correction or Middlesex House of Detention -and ‘The Tench’. The prison opened in 1847 and became hideously crowded with prisoners awaiting trial and deportation, housing as many as 30 inmates to a room. It was demolished (above ground) in 1890, and the surviving 9,000 sq ft vaults became known as the "Clerkenwell Catacombs".
A small section of the 2.5 acres of tunnels was opened as a museum in 1993 and also used for movies and parties until it was closed in 2000. A genuinely eerie place, some visitors claimed to see shadowy figures in the creeping darkness of the tunnels; others asking who the old lady was who seemed to be searching for something - when offered assistance, she would look up and vanish into thin air.
Managers often heard the melancholy sobs of a little girl, some believing a lost child was wandering the maze-like gaol, one commenting, “Children were imprisoned here and the anguish they suffered must have been terrible. Perhaps this little girl's grief has somehow impregnated the stone and some people are just sensitive to that sort of thing."
A "very unpleasant" ghoul apparently stalked women who wandered alone through the dank passageways.
Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker, Essex
This bunker was active until the end of 1994...
Wikimedia Commons
Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker is a massive, deep, Cold War bunker designed as a regional HQ. It was decommissioned in 1992 and opened to the public as a tourist attraction. The bunker was built 125 feet (38 m) underground with an entrance through a prosaic fake bungalow set amongst trees. The complex was built to house hundreds of personnel, provisions, and air, sustaining them for up to three months.
The entrance (Wikimedia Commons)
There is a story that a workman drowned in concrete during the construction of the bunker’s walls (10ft wide and 100ft deep). Spectres are said to roam the corridors, and a grey figure of an ‘unusually tall elderly lady’ moves from room to room. An RAF officer has been spotted on several occasions while a woman angrily instructs visitors to leave the building. A visitor walking through the dormitory was told to ‘go back’ by a disembodied voice.
Rocks have reportedly been lobbed at folk, crashes heard from empty rooms at night, strange lights and mists materialising from thin air, and wafting, foul smells. All without current explanation.
The main paranormal area is the base’s sick bay, containing stacks of easy-to-construct post-apocalypse cardboard coffins where dark shadowy figures lurk and a medium-confirmed malevolent presence emits feelings of dread and foreboding, which visitors have experienced. This horror supposedly originates from long before the bunker was built. Perhaps a brand of Neolithic or Pagan Saxon curse?
Drakelow Tunnels, Staffordshire
Reputedly one of the most haunted places in Britain...
Wikimedia Commons
Drakelow Tunnels are another large former underground military complex, built beneath the Blakeshall Estate north of Kidderminster, Worcestershire. The tunnels are reputedly one of the most haunted places in Britain.
The bunkers were used during the Second World War and the Cold War; rumours circulated that seven people died in the Drakelow Tunnels as a result of various accidents, including an impact with a truck, riding on the conveyor belts, and a roof collapse. In 2016, paranormal investigator Anthony Mark watched his footage from the tunnels and said he saw a ghostly face directly in front of him.
A spirit named ‘Oswald’ is believed to be one of the people who died there many years ago, a mischievous spirit who is known to pull hair, move objects, and touch people throughout the tunnels.
After the site was decommissioned in 1993, some claim it has been used for satanic worship, going so far as to open a door to an evil realm. Mediums have felt a demonic entity at the base, most often in the canteen.
Fye Bridge, Norwich
Said to be a dunking site for accused witches...
Wikimedia Commons
In the mid-1600s, East Anglia found itself at the height of the infamous witch trials, a dark chapter in history when many people, mostly women, were tried and killed for allegedly partaking in witchcraft. Fye Bridge is said to be the site of a ducking stool, into which an accused witch would be placed and dunked into the River Wensum below.
The accused were dunked into the river, as water was considered to be so pure that it repelled evil. If a woman survived the ducking, then she was a witch. If the woman drowned, this meant she was innocent, though unfortunately dead. Before the advent of the witch hunts, the ducking stool at the bridge was also used as a means of punishment of humiliation for "disorderly women" and "dishonest tradesmen".
Fye Bridge is said to be home to the ghost of a woman who was tried on the site and later burned for witchcraft at the nearby Lollard’s Pit. Those who have seen her say that the spectre is dressed in rags and begs strangers to help her pick up a dropped bundle of sticks that was used to kindle the fire that killed her. Local folklore says that if you do, you will surely die in a fire within the year.
Coltishall Bridge, Norfolk
A black dog 'as big as a calf and as noiseless as death'...
Wikimedia Commons
There is an abiding belief that the demonic hound Black Shuck* hangs out at Coltishall Bridge at night. A middle-aged couple from the village stopped on the bridge to light a cigarette in the 1930s and saw a black dog 'as big as a calf and as noiseless as death' pass by them, whilst another pair heard the creature approach them on the bridge with its heavy breathing and pattering feet. In 1950s, a young woman and her future husband were dawdling on the bridge at dusk when they claimed to see a black dog the size of a small pony. It looked at the terrified couple but kept walking and eventually vanished.
A decade later, two RAF officers drove across the bridge but were forced to break sharply as an enormous black dog crossed the road, glaring at them before disappearing. A gigantic Labrador, as high as their car at around 53 inches tall, they stated.
*In 1850, Reverend ES Taylor wrote regarding BS: 'This phantom I have heard many persons in East Norfolk and even Cambridgeshire describe as having seen as a black shaggy dog, with fiery eyes and of immense size, and who visits churchyards at midnight.’
Tower Bridge’s Dead Man’s Hole, London
The concrete ‘fishing out’ ramp for collection of the dead still stands...
Wikimedia Commons
London’s stately Tower Bridge stands where dead bodies floating in the river used to regularly wash up, so part of the structure included a place for storing the recovered corpses. The concrete ‘fishing out’ ramp for collection of the dead still stands at the north side of the bridge. The corpses were placed in rooms behind the doors at the top of the stairs, where the bodies could be claimed by relatives. But many corpses were never claimed; some bodies actually exploded due to gasses from their decomposition. Which couldn’t have been much fun for those nearby. This explains the easy-to-clean white tiles that line Dead Man’s Hole.
The dead? Well, they were generally victims of murder, suicide, and accidental drowning. Those executed at the nearby Tower of London were also transferred to Dead Man’s Hole.
Devil's Bridge on ‘Spooky Lane’, Hertfordshire
A Roman legionary also stands to attention, guarding the road...
Spooky Lane
This sunken, apparently Roman road, known as ‘Spooky Lane’ by locals, features in many urban legends, with a pair of ghosts known to walk the surrounding area, and visitors claiming to see the ghostly figures, even in daylight hours.
One spectre on the old road is a silent, robed monk walking towards a monastery that used to exist nearby. A Roman legionary also stands to attention, guarding the road. Strange sounds and mysterious red lights from the surrounding bushes have also been reported, although this may be due to the unsavory incidents of ‘dogging’ in the area.
Witchcraft was practiced under the bridge, as evidenced by the pentagrams and 666s chalked on the supporting walls. Horses and dogs are scared when they near the structure, whilst cars suffer breakdowns and return to working order moments later.
Built around the time of the third Duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803), the road is a carriage drive to the stately home Ashridge House, situated along the Chilterns Golden Valley. It is said the duke had the old Roman road sunken to hide the lady of the house from the stare of the leering local peasant workers and other plebs.
It's rumoured that the tunnel is patrolled by an eight-year-old girl...
Wikimedia Commons
The echoing acoustics and cold atmosphere make this tunnel an ideal location for paranormal activity. It's rumoured that the tunnel is patrolled by an eight-year-old girl who communicates to travellers on empty late nights. Other visitations include a Victorian dressed couple holding hands who walk towards people; and also disembodied voices and the sound of footsteps with no visible owners.
Stephen Arnell’s novel The Great One is available on Amazon Kindle:
PDN presents this insightful mediumship article in memory of its author Robin Foy, ‘Ambassadorfor the Spirit World’, who passed away peacefully in his sleep onApril 10, 2022, aged78. It was originally published in The Afterlife Magazine which is now part of Paranormal Daily News.
Robin was a co-founder of ASSMPI (American Society for Scientific Mediumship and Parapsychological Investigation) and co-founder of the infamous ‘Scole Experiment’, a five-year scientific investigation from 1993-1998 seeking evidence for Consciousness in the Afterlife and Hyperlife. The Scole group reported experiencing paranormal phenomena including unexplained lights, voices from mid-air, and the appearance of objects that seemed to teleport.
In 2018, Robin headed a campaign to establish a physical mediumship research center, ‘The Spiritual Science Foundation in Spain, believed to be a world first. He also published two books about his psychical research and experiences: In Pursuit of Physical Mediumship and Witnessing the Impossible, based on hismeticulously recorded events of the Scole Experiment.
Scole Group co-founders Robin Foy (2nd from right) and Sandra Foy with Alan and Diana Bennett
The Scole Experiment review excerpt
The Scole Group investigation by psychical researchers set several firsts. It was:
– the first study of persons acting together as a mediumistic team;
– the first to link alleged oral communications through trance mediums with photographic, visual, auditory, tactile and tangible phenomena;
– the first to investigate a range of tangible physical phenomena not associated with ectoplasm and which could be examined outside of the seance room.
When the investigation results were publicized, the case immediately became controversial.
Rosemary Ellen Guiley - Visionary Living
Why mediumship and the spirit world are heaven-sent
A medium is not simply ‘born’ with this ability
Mediumship in its various forms has taken place since the beginning of time. Most people assume that it only began with the launch of the official religion of ‘Spiritualism’ in 1848 through the Fox sisters at Hydesville in the New York State of the USA.
Mediumship can be traced right back to the time of ancient civilizations. In ancient Greece, mediums were referred to as Oracles. Those who consulted the famous Oracle at Delphi in Greece for example, gazed into a large mirror or the highly polished surface of a large metal vessel to enjoy a personal interaction (of a physical nature) with the spirit world. This method is still used today with mirror-based equipment called a ‘Psychomanteum’.
In Atlantis, communication with the spirit world and other dimensions was conducted through the use of a massive crystal that hung in a special room. Knowledge of communication through crystals was lost over the millennia but is resurfacing once again, as we witnessed from 1993 to 1998 during our 5-year-long experiments in the village of Scole, situated in the county of Norfolk, eastern England.
Mediumship in its proper forms is a serious business. The specific job of a medium is to bring real evidence to the public of the reality of life after death, by delivering evidential messages to those seeking connection with deceased friends and relatives. A medium is not simply ‘born’ with this ability. They work hard for many years to develop and hone their mediumistic talents. Some mediums tend to specialize in aspects of mediumship that suit them best, and, after years of careful development, determine where they can best use their gifts and talents for the benefit of mankind.
Believe me – mediumship is not an easy life, but one of constant service to others. In my case, I have been intimately involved in the rare field of physical mediumship for almost 42 years and gathered vast experience and knowledge of this specific form of mediumship.
These strange images, with clearly discernable though rambling German phrases, originated from a Polachrome film bought and controlled throughout the sitting by the Schnittgers after it was placed by them in a locked box held in Walter Schnittger’s hand and developed the same evening after a sitting attended also by a Dr Schaer on 22nd November in 1996. The Scole Experiment (Chapter V1, Appendix D)
How different forms of mediumship work
As stated in the title of this article, mediumship is a natural communication process with the Spirit World and other dimensions in several different ways.
Mental Mediumship:
Mental Mediumship is the most common of the two types of mediumship practiced today. There are literally hundreds of thousands of ‘mental’ mediums throughout the world. Most people (if they have the desire and patience to do so) can develop one or more of the three main forms of mental mediumship to some degree if they regularly sit in a development circle under a good teacher.
It is possible to learn and develop the basics of mental mediumship in a relatively short space of time; sometimes within weeks of starting to train as a medium. A much longer period of development is, however, necessary for the ‘fledgling medium’ to achieve a good standard in their mediumistic work.
Clairvoyance: The ability of the medium to ‘see’ spirit personalities. Sometimes the medium sees spirit people as though they are real people, moving about in a normal and natural way. At other times, the medium might ‘see’ them on the ‘mirror of their mind’ within their head. What distinguishes this as mental mediumship however, is the fact that only the medium sees these spirit people. Anybody else who is present does not. The medium can pass on to his or her ‘sitter’ what they are seeing, by way of evidence.
Clairaudience: The ability of the medium to hear what the spirit personalities are saying. This gift often goes together with clairvoyance. Sometimes the medium hears spirit voices as though they are real and coming from another real person in the room. At other times, the medium ‘hears’ the voices within their head again ‘on the mirror of their mind’. The medium is the only person who hears these voices, and can pass on to their sitter (client) what the spirit person is telling them, by way of evidence of the existence of life after death. Such a message can provide great comfort for a bereaved friend, relative or loved one.
Clairsentience: The ability of the medium to sense the presence of spirit people, and to sense what they are saying. Again, the medium is the only person who can (through their training) sense the presence of spirit personalities, and sense the message from a specific spirit person that they can then pass on to their sitter who during a private reading, or who might receive such a message in a spiritualist church.
Trance mediumship is an altered state
Trance Mediumship is a bit of a grey area. There are indeed many different ‘levels’ and depths of trance. When a medium is in a state of being ‘overshadowed’ and in a ‘deep trance’, they are fully unconscious and unaware of anything that is happening within themselves and around them. I believe that it is more accurate to describe any level of trance as an ‘altered state’.
In most cases, it can be logically argued that even if an entranced medium is aware of every word that is spoken through them, the medium has no physical control over the content of what is said. Apart from when a medium is in a very light trance (overshadowed), this is essentially an accurate statement.
It can be further argued that since the medium has no physical control over the content of what is spoken through their own larynx whilst in an altered state, the process of a spirit person speaking through them in this way is an aspect of physical mediumship.
Whilst I can personally see the logic of this argument, I do not regard trance mediumship as an aspect of physical mediumship but – simply – in some cases (not all) a tool to enable the production of physical phenomena when properly managed by a team of spirit personalities who work with a particular medium.
Direct voice vs trance communication
We have to be careful not to mix up the terms used for a type of physical phenomenon with trance communication through the human larynx of a medium. I know of several experienced psychic researchers, for instance, who have gone for a private sitting with a trance medium that advertised ‘direct voice’, only to discover that instead of physical phenomena, they have simply been treated to trance communication through a medium. It might be an honest mistake on the part of the medium, but it can be very misleading and, hopefully, we can help set the record straight.
When sitting specifically for physical phenomena in the more traditional ectoplasmic-based way, the physical medium is usually in a deep trance state. There are exceptions to this; the famous Independent Direct Voice medium Leslie Flint comes to mind, as he was fully awake during his sittings and able to join in the conversations with the spirit voices that occurred through his mediumship.
When a medium is capable of producing full ectoplasm-based materialization, however, it does seem essential for them to be in a deep trance throughout this process.
Physical phenomenon captured on film with Robin & Sandra Foy, Alan & Diana Bennett (Image: The Scole Experiment)
Energy-based physical phenomena groups
Experienced experimental physical phenomena groups choose to work in the modern energy-based way, where no ectoplasm is involved. We were told by our spirit helpers that trance is not always necessary for phenomena to be produced. In fact, Sandra and I sat for some time in an experimental group in South London, and witnessed amazing physical phenomena with nobody in an altered state. The group did not even know who the medium of the circle was at the time, although we did eventually discover his identity. The gentleman had no idea himself!
However, when an experimental group first starts sitting to develop physical phenomena, having one or more of the group in trance is particularly helpful, as communications and instructions to help the group with their development can then be received. Throughout the history of the Scole Experiment in the 1990’s (where the energy-based method was pioneered) we had two of the group members in deep trance throughout the sittings, but the Scole Group was unique at that time.
A more likely scenario today is that one or more of the sitters might be used in an altered state to bring through communications from the spirit team who work with the group in an energy-based format, but when this happens, the trance state will not be as deep as when the circle is developing in the more traditional ectoplasm-based format.
I must stress here, however, that neither way of working is better than the other. They are just different ways of working. And both require equal amounts of dedication, love, patience, harmony, and determination to develop positive results. It is also true that the energy-based format has certain advantages, which I will explain soon.
Two Types of Physical Mediumship
So far, we have covered a few of the basic properties of the mental and physical mediumship that are practiced today amongst spiritual and psychic research communities. Now we will explore the different types of physical phenomena that can happen under controlled conditions when an experimental group or physical circle sits specifically to witness or demonstrate phenomena.
The main difference between mental and physical mediumship is that during demonstrations of physical mediumship, everybody present can see, hear, feel, and experience physically, everything that is going on in the room and/or interact physically with the spirit personalities who are present.
Not everyone is aware that physical mediumship is practiced in two different ways. The traditional view within the Spiritualist Movement is that physical phenomena can only be presented by spirit helpers using the controversial substance known as ectoplasm. This method has been used by physical mediums and their guides and helpers since 1848.
Generally, it involves just one physical medium, who is usually in deep trance throughout the proceedings. The medium often sits in a cabinet throughout to concentrate the power. Most physical mediums operate in total darkness, or use a dim red light for illumination, but a number of developing physical mediums and scientifically-minded researchers are now experimenting with various other forms of lighting (including spirit lights brought by the spirit teams of the mediums concerned).
Ectoplasmic-based physical mediumship
The ectoplasmic-based physical medium often takes many years to fully develop their mediumship. The ‘ectoplasm’ is exuded from the physical medium’s body (from any or all of the body’s natural orifices). It can be molded by the spirit guides and helpers to form a solid ‘materialization’ of a spirit person, which is often positively identified by friends and relatives of the spirit person.
For the manipulation and levitation of objects such as a trumpet (a megaphone-like object used for amplification of direct-voice communication from spirit) in the seance room, an ectoplasmic rod with a pseudopod for gripping is used by the spirit people. In every case, the ectoplasm remains connected by an umbilical cord-like structure to the medium whilst phenomena takes place. The ectoplasmic connection also makes proceedings potentially physically dangerous for the medium.
If a sitter does something silly, like switching on an electric light in the middle of a seance, the ectoplasm shoots back into the body of the medium at an alarmingly fast rate; causing (at best) burns to the medium’s body and (at worst) occasional internal damage that has, on occasion, led directly to the death or serious injury of the medium. Such was the case with Helen Duncan and Alec Harris, both famous materialization mediums. Consequently, in all sittings where physical mediumship is conducted through an ectoplasmic-based system, stringent precautions have to be observed for the safety of the medium.
Energy-based physical mediumship
The second, and more modern method of producing physical phenomena is by way of an energy-based procedure. This form of physical phenomena was largely pioneered by the spirit team working with us during the Scole Experimental Group in the 1990’s. There may indeed be one or more mediums in a group where this method is being used and they may, or may not necessarily be used in deep trance; sometimes, the group are not even aware of who the medium or mediums might be!
The spiritual energies of all the group members are blended and involved in the energy-based process. Whilst groups of this sort should start out in total darkness, the spirit team working with a particular group often provides their own spirit-lighting during the early stages of the development of the phenomena to provide adequate illumination.
Three types of blended energy used by the spirit team
The energy used by the spirit team is a blend of three different types of energy which can provide one creative energy that can be used by the spirit team or individual spirits in a physical way to produce the phenomena:
1) Spiritual energy taken from all the sitters in the group.
2) Spirit energy brought by the spirit team from the spirit world, especially for the purpose of producing the ‘creative energy’ needed at a particular sitting.
3) Columns or ‘pillars’ of natural earth energy that exist in certain geographical locations around the world. Groups sitting for physical phenomena can attract one of these columns of energy to them or even create a new column in the place where the sittings take place.
There are several advantages to working with energy, although neither method is better than, nor superior to the other. These advantages include:
a) Phenomena can develop quicker with energy. Sometimes, within in months rather than years.
b) There is absolutely no danger whatsoever to mediums or sitters if somebody does something stupid during an energy-based sitting. The phenomena will simply stop.
c) The energy-based method is more versatile in that more types of phenomena can be developed in this way. At Scole, we counted around 180 different types of phenomena that were developed during the 5-year history of the Scole Experimental Group.
Types of physical phenomena produced by spirit helpers
Next, we will be looking at the actual types of physical phenomena that can be produced by the spirit helpers using these two methods. The list below describes some of the phenomena that can be witnessed when the medium, group or circle works in either an ectoplasmic-based way or an energy-based way.
I will first describe the types of phenomenal that are typical of ectoplasm-based. EVERYTHING that happens in an ectoplasm-based way can be duplicated in an energy-based way. It is important to realize, however, that although the same effects can be reproduced in either way, the method of production is definitely different. Consequently, there are sometimes different names for a similar effect produced through the creative energy method and where this is the case, I include the new energy-based names in brackets.
Physical phenomena that can be witnessed
1) DROP IN TEMPERATURE: Self-explanatory; one of the first signs in a physical circle, around knees and below.
2) PSYCHIC BREEZES: Can be felt around the experimental room, particularly when a spirit person is very close.
3) PSYCHIC SMELLS AND AROMAS: Can be scents, the smell of tobacco or something associated with a spirit person.
4) RAPS AND TAPS: Of various strengths and intensities can be heard around the room coming from any surface.
5) RINGING OF BELLS: That are present in the room; perhaps hanging from the ceiling or placed on the floor.
6) SITTERS BEING SPLASHED WITH WATER DROPLETS: In a playful way occasionally by members of the spirit team.
7) ELECTROSTATIC CRACKLING IN THE AIR: The noise of ectoplasm/energy being moved about and manipulated.
8) LEVITATION: Of small objects; then large ones such as heavy tables, chairs, or people, sometimes to the ceiling.
9) DIRECT SPIRIT WRITING: On a piece of paper or pad that has been left in the room, specially for the purpose.
10) APPORTS: Objects brought into the seance room from elsewhere during a sitting – sometimes little presents.
11) ASPORTS: Opposite to apports; objects in seance room at the start, removed by spirit team during a seance.
12) SPIRIT LIGHTS: Usually are more limited in type, variety, size and duration than those produced by energy.
13) TRANSFIGURATION: Mask of ectoplasm covering medium’s face molded by spirit into face of communicator.
14) PLAYING OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: By spirit musicians, (or less well by enthusiastic child spirit guides!)
15) DIRECT VOICE: This refers to spirit voices speaking through a ‘trumpet’ (aluminum cone like a megaphone -specially for the purpose) which is usually levitated in mid-air at the time.
16) INDEPENDENT VOICE (Energy voices in new way produced without ectoplasm): A superb type of phenomena where the spirit team build a replica of a human voice-box in mid-air out of ectoplasm. Spirit voices can speak through this, sometimes in their own exact voice whilst on earth. The two way conversation between sitters and spirit communicators sounds just as though two earthly physical people are talking.
17) MATERIALISATION (Teleportation in new way of actual spirit person without ectoplasm): This is an amazing phenomenon to witness. An animated replica of a spirit person is created by the spirit team from a substance called ectoplasm, appearing totally solid and fully recognizable; able to interact with relatives, friends and loved ones. These materializations are generally unable to stay for long, and return to the ‘cabinet’ to dematerialize in order to make way for more materializations.
18) MATTER THROUGH MATTER: Spirit team can dematerialize any matter (such as part of the medium’s own body or chair) and re-materialize this in the same place or elsewhere.
19) MANY AND VARIED DIFFERENT TYPES/COLOURS OF SPIRIT LIGHTS/LUMINOSITY: These are self-explanatory.
20) HEALING AS SPIRIT LIGHT ENTERS A SITTER’S BODY: This is fully visible. The light has weight and substance and can move freely around the patient’s body (always felt physically by patient) till it emerges visibly again from patient. Healing given in this way was always extremely effective. It happened to me many times.
21) ANY SOUND CAN BE DUPLICATED IN CIRCLE: This includes the sound of any musical instrument that is not in the room at the time; a spirit team can also, for instance, pretend to give a ‘haircut’ to a sitter. The scissors can be heard opening and closing; the comb can be heard being drawn across a chair, when none of these instruments or objects are in the room in reality!
22) EXTENDED VOICE: this occurs when the trance communication from a medium (through his or her larynx in the normal way) suddenly seems to come from a different place in the room, although the medium is still sitting in the same place. What happens here is that by using energy, the spirit team is able to make the source of the medium’s voice appear to move anywhere in that room within a split second, without the medium moving. The voice can even, on occasion, seem to come from within the walls of the room.
23) TELEPORTED SPIRIT BEINGS AND (in some groups) STELLAR FRIENDS FROM OTHER DIMENSIONS: Can move freely around the room in solid form and interact constantly with sitters. There seems to be no time limit on their presence and they are able to undertake many normal tasks whilst they are present, which would seem to be beyond the ability of ectoplasmic-based materialization; we have personally experienced the presence of eight or more of these teleported beings in an experimental room at the same time!
24) PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHY: Many different types. Sometimes appearing on a 35mm film in a camera which is levitated by a spirit team and proceeds to take pictures in total darkness; at other times, a complete 35mm film still in its shop wrapping and locked into a security box can be covered from end to end with pictures and writing produced by a spirit team. We had pictures and portraits also captured on a video camera as we sat.
25) SVO’S – SOLID VISIBLE OBJECTS: These were self-illuminated objects that had no name on our earth but were common in the spirit world. They were brought by our spirit team for us to see and examine in a solid form before they were again taken back to the spirit world.
26) VSB’S – VISIBLE SPIRIT BEINGS: Not spirit people but ANGELIC BEINGS. Self-luminous; they would build up on a table in front of our eyes to a height of about two to three feet (resembling a Madonna-type figure), before floating around the room in front of our eyes, allowing their robes to trail over our hands. The wonderful love that emanated from these beings was amazing! The room was ‘charged’ with energy when they were present.
27) VOICE-TO-VOICE COMMUNICATION WITH SPIRIT BEINGS: Of excellent clarity and volume through the simple amplifier of a cheap tape recorder.
28) TELEPORTED PRESENCE OF MINIATURE UFO: Which flew around the room on a number of occasions, pausing in front of each sitter so they could examine it closely, with its illuminated portholes.
29) VOICE-TO-VOICE COMMUNICATION WITH ‘STELLAR FRIENDS’ AND OTHER WORLD BEINGS: Through the amplifier of a cheap tape recorder attached to the simple TRANS-DIMENSIONAL COMMUNICATION DEVICE that was designed by our spirit team. A blueprint of this device was received by us on an unopened film when we were asked to build it. An IDOLIS (Inter-Dimensional Oral Language Interpretation System) was incorporated into this device by the spirit team for use during our communications so we could hear the communications in ENGLISH through a ‘robotic’ voice.
Spontaneous, natural occurrences of physical phenomena
Finally, it is important to recognize that not all physical phenomena occur within experimental groups and physical circles that sit under strictly controlled conditions. Here are a few examples of natural, spontaneous phenomena that occur during our everyday lives:
A) SPIRIT ‘ORBS’ OCCURRING IN EVERYDAY PHOTOGRAPHY
B) CROP CIRCLES
C) DOWSING
D) DRV (DIRECT RADIO VOICES): On a one-to-one basis through a functioning radio (as in the case of Italian medium Marcello Bacci)
E) PSYCHIC SURGERY
F) EVP (ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA)
G) PHONE CALLS FROM SPIRIT PEOPLE
H) SPIRIT MESSAGES LEFT ON ANSWERPHONES
I) ITC (INSTRUMENTAL TRANS-COMMUNICATION): A whole sub-category by itself. Includes: IMAGES OF SPIRIT PEOPLE AND OTHER DIMENSIONAL PEOPLE ON TELEVISION SCREENS. Also communication received through any other technical devices such as COMPUTERS. Strictly speaking, communications on answer phones and EVP loosely fit into this category, too.
The types of phenomena I have mentioned here – both ectoplasmic-based and energy-based – are the main types you are likely to come into contact with if you research this exciting subject thoroughly. However, the list is by no means comprehensive. There is much more to discover as you delve deeper into the topic.
