HOAXES  & HOAXERS 

 IN MEDIUMSHIP & THE PSYCHIC FIELD       1

There have been many unscrupulous people who have been caught trying to fool their audiences when allegedly linking with the Spirit World.

I am going to try to bring to you some of things that have gone on, and tell of those who have tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the general public and been found out, BUT, what should be remembered is in times gone by, the all powerful churches/religions and the blinkered and indoctrinated people brought up in those religions who were in high office of the establishments had a lot of influence over the courts of the land and most times controlled those courts. Also these debunkers were trying to make a name for themselves and sell their own books so it was in their own interest to keep the lies going. as it was with the people who were perpetrating the scams.

Many true genuine Mediums of the time were needlessly hounded and in some cases placed in ducking stools and drowned; burned alive; tar and feathered; hung drawn and quartered; even today these things are happening to alleged witches, some of whom are children as young as eight. [see the other page on witches]. On saying that, I want you to make up your own minds about some of the things that have gone on in the past.  BUT PUT THINGS IN CONTEXT and see without any blinkers on have an open mind.

In our modern age, in living memory there have been and there are still people trying to make a lot of money from the unsuspecting public. This is why it is so necessary to have some sort of recording equipment in the seance rooms when physical phenomena is purported to be taking place, especially in the dark seances. This is where the infra red camera if used would be a God send. I have used these cameras many times with NO detrimental effect to the Physical Medium or the proceedings during the seances. In two of the Circles I attended with my four cameras had apports produced in those red light seances.

As recently as the late 1990s-2000s a few Mediums I have known and have been told about, have been caught out. AS YET I will not place their names on here BUT I will tell about the happenings, so you can if you wish, find out who they are.

What I have found out through my research is that a lot of the tested genuine Mediums have been accused by someone or other as being a fraud. This is possibly because of the influence of the two face bigots in the the major religions who do not want any of their flock going to the Spiritualist churches in case they get corrupted by the truthful evidence demonstrated at each Spiritualist service and in each Spiritualist meeting. I wonder if things might change now that the Roman Catholic Church has had a directive from Rome that it is OK to converse with incarnate Spirits. I think I should point out here that the Spiritualist religion is ONE of the only TWO legally recognised religions in the British Isles, the other being the Church of England, who incidentally took it upon themselves to look into the world of Spiritualism and its full [unpublished at the time] now leaked positive findings, these findings are on another page; click here.

                                              Colin Evans                                                               Colin Evans                               Physical Medium Carmine Mirabelli genuine Levitation

Two independent camera photographs of the alleged Medium Colin Evans levitating taken at nearly the same time [fractionally different time NOTE the creases in the trousers]. They are taken at slightly different angles during the same large public seance in London 1938.

This seance was done in the dark. The photographs were said to be taken with infra red flash lighting [In this instance it is possible that an ordinary flash was used].

NOTE each photograph the coat and the trousers creases/folds and the wire Colin Evans is holding for the cameras remote.

Could it be that the man had jumped off the chair [which is for me the likely explanation. The trousers, which are loose fitting, hang as though they are on a downward movement] as he is holding a wire attached to the flash lights for one and possibly the two cameras [the two separate flash cameras I think is more likely]. IF levitation had been taking place and the Spirit World had lifted him, I would have expected the coat and the trousers to have been straight like the Physical Medium Carmine Mirabelli above and below.

If you have a video camera, take a shot of yourself [as I have] or someone jumping off a chair and freeze the frames one at a time perhaps replicate this incident.

If he had been sitting down in a trance state as in any normal seance, I would have expected him to be either sitting on the chair being taken upwards by the Spirit World or being taken upwards in a sitting down, bent at the knees stance or being in a straight clothed state, which was the same as when stood on the ground. NOT Trousers crumpled and part way up his legs]

ALSO NOTE the wire he is holding is shown in his left hand going to the side between the two sitters is shown jerked upwards in the middle as set in the photograph as it would be if thrown upwards NOT as being gently being taken up by Spirit in a slightly curved ark.

IF he was being taken up by the Spirit World I would have expected the wire to be either straight OR having a slight curve like a crescent with its downward part nearest the ground.

It does not add up. If anyone out there can say anything different please let me know.

THIS IS THE REASON FOR THE NEED OF PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE, video or still, it does not matter.

Here are a few photographs from The Unexplained. They show Helen Duncan in trance sitting for the Circle in different seances in which was allegedly produced these ectoplastic forms. I will leave it up to you to say whether or not they are Spirit. BUT I will point out some things. NOTE the two different images are supposed to be the same Spirit person Peggy yet they are totally different in facial structure.  Notice also the three points that appear at the head and shoulders, are these the points that the strings are holding the alleged Spirit being in the air ???? See below in the compared photographs.

The Physical Medium Helen Duncan is seen materializing Peggy in a seance conducted in her own home. The photograph appears to show Peggy to be a creature with a paper-mache and cheesecloth. Is the point on the head where the string goes upwards?

The words and the pictures are from The Unexplained No 49.

At a seance held at her home in 1933, the Physical Medium Helen Duncan produced the materialized form of her alleged Spirit Guide Peggy. This is a close-up of Peggy's face and below it is alongside the other photograph of Peggy.

Helen Duncan is wearing a blindfold to stop any sudden shock from the flash of the photographer. If she was in a true trance the danger would have been immense. Notice also the two people at either side of Mrs Duncan are holding her by the hands, so who could have been manipulating the form which was supposed to be covered in cheesecloth.

Harry Price claimed it was constructed out of cheesecloth and a rubber doll. However, reputable witnesses, such as the Glasgow medical officer for health, and a great many others testified at Mrs Duncan's trial in 1944 to seeing many genuine Spirit Forms at her regular seances. Why has she used these two DIFFERENT dolls to show the same person and why has she resorted to this method ?

From The Unexplained, No 13.

 The Two Peggys ??????? WHY ??????

Here is an exhibit for a court case in against Helen Duncan in 1933. It was said that this garment was a woman's under vest which was used by Mrs Duncan to manipulate into Spirit Forms one being Peggy. The tags on the bottom are the seals of the witnesses from the seance who stood up and spoke against her. Note the material of the vest is nothing like the material that is covering the alleged Spirit Peggy in any of the photographs.

BUT COULD the Spirit World have constructed a dummy. REMEMBER Helen Duncan was always strip searched before her seances, and only her black dress was worn.

Why ? if she did; did she resort to fakery???

More questions than answers.

Please remember that many of these researchers in the past, if they could not prove that the Medium was fraudulent they would put it around that they thought they were. It is that word thought that makes all the difference. Yes, there were some tricksters BUT NOT as many as the Christian and religious community would like to make out. Look at the finding of the Church of England and their findings that was hushed up after they had spent many months researching the facts. BUT there again some genuine Mediums did cheat when their energies waned.

What I am finding in my research is some of the debunkers of Spiritualism were themselves hoaxers. When they could not prove that a Medium was a fraud they made up stories about them just as some governments give out misinformation to muddy the waters about many instances that have genuinely happened. The more I find out the likes of Houdini the more I am convinced he used his misinformation to to bring himself publicity and enhance his own failing stage acts.