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 Mrs Fannie Conant Medium   USA

1831 -- 1876

Photograph by William H Mumler is of the Medium Mrs Fannie Conant of the magazine the Banner of Light. The Spirit extra is the Spirit of her brother Charles H Crowell 1868,[fully recognised by all who knew him] The Banner of Light was a Spiritual Philosophy newspaper that had all manner of articles ranging from lectures of trance and non trance Spiritualist speakers and reports from eminent scientists of tests conducted on Mediums of the day and mediumistic happenings.  The Message Department of the magazine was described as "a page of Spirit-Messages from the departed to their friends in earth-life, given through the mediumship of Mrs. J. H. Conant, providing direct spirit-intercourse between the Mundane and Super-Mundane Worlds."

Fanny Conant wrote the book, Flashes of Light from the Spirit-World which is a 400-page compilation of questions answered by the Spirits through her Mediumship. The is another book you might want to try and get hold of; The Biography of Mrs. Conant, subtitled Immortality Demonstrated Through Her Mediumship, was published in Boston by W. White in 1873.

Fannie Conant was born in 1831 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and made her transition in 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts. Fannie was known to have talked with the “angels.” In 1838 as a child near death, the doctor gave up all hope for her recovery. As it happened, she gave him a spirit message for the cure of her problem and she was healed. Fannie grew up to become a famous healer. She also did automatic writing with both hands, writing on different subjects at the same time.

Her many demonstrations of mediumship were striking. In order to preserve the many messages received through her, a Spiritualist writer by the name of Allan Putnam published them in 1872 under the title, Flashes of Light From the Spirit World.” The content of the messages contained within the book are purely philosophical in nature and their believed sources are among such well-known American spokesmen as Thomas Paine, Theodore Parker and many others.

Fanny became a public worker for the religion of Spiritualism in 1852. She was given instruction for the publishing of the newspaper, Banner of Light, the name being given to her by Spirit months before the first issue. She served as its message medium for several years. Fanny also held circles and of her it was said, “She is a delicate, retiring lady, one of the finest illustrations of sensitiveness in a long list of notable mediums.”

In 1873, Allen Putnam published an account of her mediumship in the book, Biography of Mrs. J. H. Conant.

NOTE: The profiles are based on the editor's research plus information contained in "They" PAVED THE WAY: Spiritualism's Pioneers, by Marilyn Awtry-Smith. The publication is available through the NSAC Bookstore.

From The National Spiritualist Association of Churches with minor adjustments.

Mrs. Fannie Conant held spirit circles (seances), open to the public, at the offices of Banner of Light:

"They are conducted through the mediumship of Mrs. Fanny Conant, a lady who for several years past has been influenced by Spirits of every rank, grade of life, and development of mind. These invisible guests throng the Circle room which the editors of the Banner of Light, with noble and exemplary generosity, open free to the public. And there, as opportunity permits, they pour forth, through the entranced organism of Mrs. Conant, the tale of their earthly lives, their vices and errors, their bitter lamentation for earthly lives misspent, messages of love and consolation to absent friends, warnings, encouragement, and every description of characteristic communication that could be conceived of as emanating from the heterogeneous conditions of human existence. And all this is represented in the voice, tone, gestures, and even the countenance of this wonderful Medium, with such graphic fidelity that a witness with closed eyes might readily persuade himself, he was in the actual presence of all the various characters thus delineated. The accuracy of these remarkable Spirit personations is further attested by hundreds of letters addressed to the Banner of Light by total strangers, who have read and recognized the printed messages from their Spirit friends."

---Emma Hardinge, Modern American Spiritualism (1879), p. 512.