Wednesday 5 December 2012

Daniel Dunglas Home

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Daniel Dunglas Home

Daniel Dunglas Home
Born(1833-03-20)20 March 1833
Currie, Scotland
Died21 June 1886(1886-06-21) (aged 53)
Occupationclairvoyant, medium, psychic
Spouse(s)Alexandria de Kroll (m. 1858–1862) «start: (1858)–end+1: (1863)»"Marriage: Alexandria de Kroll to Daniel Dunglas Home" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dunglas_Home)
Julie de Gloumeline (m. 1871) «start: (1871)»"Marriage: Julie de Gloumeline to Daniel Dunglas Home" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dunglas_Home)
ChildrenGregoire
ParentsWilliam and Elizabeth Home (née McNeill)
Daniel Dunglas Home (pronounced 'Hume') (March 20, 1833 – June 21, 1886) was a Scottish physical medium with the reported ability to levitate to a variety of heights, speak with the dead, and to produce rapping and knocks in houses at will. His biographer Peter Lamont opines that he was one of the most famous men of his era.[1] Harry Houdini described him as 'one of the most conspicuous and lauded of his type and generation'.[2] Home conducted hundreds of séances, which were attended by many eminent Victorians.
There were speculations and one recorded eyewitness account by F. Merrifield in the Journal of Psychical Research describing conjuring methods and fraud that Home may have employed.[3][4][5]

Contents

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[edit] Family

Daniel Home's mother, Elizabeth ("Betsy") Home (née McNeill) was known as a seer in Scotland, as were many of her predecessors, like her great uncle Colin Uruqhart, and her uncle Mr. McKenzie. The gift of second sight was often seen as a curse, as it foretold instances of tragedy and death.[6][7] Home's father, William Home, was the illegitimate son of Alexander, the 10th Earl of Home.[6] Evidence supports the elder Home's illegitimacy, as various payments meant for William were made by the 10th Earl.[8] Elizabeth and William were married when he was 19-years old, and found employment at the Balerno paper mill. The Homes moved into one of small houses built in the mill for the workforce, in Currie (six miles south-west of Edinburgh).[9] William was described as a "bitter, morose and unhappy man" who drank, and was often aggressive towards his wife.[9] Elizabeth had eight children while living in the mill house: six sons and two daughters, although their lives were not fully recorded. The eldest, John, later worked in the Balerno mill and eventually managed a paper mill in Philadelphia, Mary drowned in a stream at 12-years old in 1846, and Adam died at sea at the age of 17 while on route to Greenland, which Home says he saw in a vision and reportedly confirmed five months later.[10][11]

[edit] Early life

Daniel Home was Elizabeth's third child, and was born on 20 March 1833. He was baptised by the Reverend Mr. Somerville three weeks after his birth at Currie Parish Church on 14 April 1833.[12] The one-year old Home was deemed a delicate child, having a "nervous temperament", and was passed to Elizabeth's childless sister, Mary Cook. She lived with her husband in the coastal town of Portobello, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Edinburgh.[13] According to Home, his cradle rocked by itself at the Cooks' house, and he had a vision of a cousin's death, who lived in Linlithgow, to the west of Edinburgh.[14][15]

[edit] America


Home pondering a skull. A staged studio photograph typical of the era.
Sometime between 1838 and 1841, Home's aunt and uncle decided to emigrate to the United States with their adopted son, sailing in the cheapest class of steerage as they could not afford a cabin.[16] After landing in New York, the Cooks travelled to Greeneville, near Norwich, Connecticut.[17] The red-haired and freckled Home attended school in Greeneville, where he was known as "Scotchy" by the other students.[18] The 13-year old Home did not join in sports games with other boys, preferring to take walks in the local woods with a friend called Edwin. The two boys read the Bible to each other and told stories, and made a pact stating that if one or the other were to die, they would try and make contact after death.[18] Home and his aunt soon moved to Troy, NY, which is about 155 miles (249 km) from Greeneville, although Home in his own book stated it was 300 miles (480 km) away.[19] Home lost contact with Edwin until one night when Home, according to Lamont, saw a brightly lit vision of him standing at the foot of the bed, which gave Home the feeling that his friend was dead. Edwin made three circles in the air before disappearing, and a few days later a letter arrived stating that Edwin had died of malignant dysentery, which was three days before Home's vision.[20]
A few years later Home and his aunt returned to Greeneville, and Elizabeth Home emigrated from Scotland to America with the surviving members of the family to live in Waterford, Connecticut, which was 12 miles (19 km) away from the Cook's house.[21] Home and his mother's reunion was short-lived, as Elizabeth appeared to foretell her own death in 1850. Home said he saw his mother in a vision saying, "Dan, 12 o'clock", which was the time of her death.[10][21] After Elizabeth's death Home turned to religion.[22] His aunt was a Presbyterian, and held the Calvinist view that one's fate has been decided, so Home embraced the Wesleyan faith, which believed that every soul can be saved.[23] Home's aunt resented Wesleyans so much that she forced Home to change to Congregationalist, which was not to her liking, either, but was more in line with her own religion.[24] The house was reportedly disturbed by rappings and knocking similar to those that occurred two years earlier at the home of the Fox sisters. Ministers were called to the Cooks' house: a Baptist, a Congregationalist, and even a Wesleyan minister, who all believed that Home was possessed by the Devil, although Home believed it was a gift from God.[25] According to Home, the knocking did not stop, and a table started to move by itself, even though Home's aunt put a bible on it and then placed her full body weight on it.[26][27] According to Lamont, the noises did not stop and were attracting the unwanted attention of Cook's neighbours, so Home was told to leave the house.[28]

[edit] Fame


William Cullen Bryant, a poet, and editor of the New York Evening Post, who witnessed one of Home's séances.
The 18-year old Home stayed with a friend in Willimantic, Connecticut, and later Lebanon, Connecticut. Home held his first séance in March 1851, which was reported in a Hartford newspaper managed by W. R. Hayden, who wrote that the table moved without anyone touching it, and kept moving when Hayden physically tried to stop it.[29][30] After the newspaper report, Home became well known in New England, travelling around healing the sick and communicating with the dead, although he wrote that he was not prepared for this sudden change in his life because of his supposed shyness.[31]
Home never directly asked for money, although he lived very well on gifts, donations and lodging from wealthy admirers. He felt that he was on a "mission to demonstrate immortality", and wished to interact with his clients as one gentleman to another, rather than as an employee.[32][33] In 1852, Home was a guest at the house of Rufus Elmer in Springfield, Massachusetts, giving séances six or seven times a day, which were visited by crowds of people, including a Harvard professor, David Wells, and the poet and editor of the New York Evening Post, William Cullen Bryant. They were all convinced of Home's credibility and wrote to the Springfield Republican newspaper stating that the room was well lit, full inspections were allowed, and said, "We know that we were not imposed upon nor deceived".[34] It was also reported that at one of Home's demonstrations five men of heavy build (with a combined weight of 850 pounds) sat on a table, but it still moved, and others saw "a tremulous phosphorescent light gleam over the walls".[35] Home was investigated by numerous people, such as Professor Robert Hare, the inventor of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, and John Worth Edmonds, a Supreme Court judge, who were sceptical, but later said they believed Home was not fraudulent.[35][36]
In his book, "Incidents in My Life", Home claims that on August 1852, in South Manchester, Connecticut, at the house of Ward Cheney, a successful silk manufacturer, he was reportedly seen to levitate twice and then rise to up to the ceiling, with louder rappings and knocking than ever before, more aggressive table movements and the sounds of a ship at sea in a storm, although persons present said that the room was badly lit so as to see the spirit lights.[37][38]

The reported levitation at Ward Cheney's house interpreted in a lithograph from Louis Figuier, Les Mystères de la science 1887
New York was now interested in Home's abilities, so he moved to an apartment at Bryant Park on 42nd street. His most verbal critic in New York was William Makepeace Thackeray, the author of Vanity Fair. Thackeray dismissed Home's abilities as "dire humbug", and "dreary and foolish superstition", although Thackeray had been impressed when he saw a table turning.[39] Home thought that Thackeray was "the most sceptical inquirer" he had ever met, and as Thackeray made his thoughts public, Home faced public scepticism and further scrutiny.[40] Home travelled between Hartford, Springfield, and Boston during the next few months, and settled in Newburgh by the Hudson River in the summer of 1853.[41] He resided at the Theological Institute, but took no part in any of the theological discussions held there, as he wanted to take a course in medicine. Dr. Hull funded Home's studies, and offered to pay Home five dollars a day for his séances, but Home refused, as always.[42] His idea was to fund his work with a legitimate salary by practicing medicine, but he became ill in early 1854, and stopped his studies. Home was diagnosed with Tuberculosis, and his doctors recommended recuperation in Europe. His last séance in America was in March 1855, in Hartford, Connecticut, before he travelled to Boston and sailed to England on board the Africa, at the end of March.[43]

[edit] Europe

Home's name was originally Daniel Home, but by the time he arrived in Europe he had lengthened it to Daniel Dunglas Home, in reference to the Scottish house of Home, of which his father claimed to be a part.[44] In London Home found a believer in spiritualism, William Cox, who owned a large hotel at 53, 54 and 55 Jermyn Street, London. As Cox was so enamoured of Home's abilities, he let him stay at the hotel without payment.[45] Robert Owen, an 83-year-old social reformer, was also staying at the hotel, and introduced Home to many of his friends in London society.[46] At the time Home was described as "tall and thin, with blue eyes and auburn hair, fastidiously dressed but seriously ill with consumption". Nevertheless, he held sittings for notable people in full daylight, moving objects that were some distance away.[47] Some early guests at Home's sittings included the scientist Sir David Brewster (who remained unconvinced), the novelists Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Thomas Adolphus Trollope, and the Swedenborgian James John Garth Wilkinson.[32][48] As well as Brewster, fellow scientists Michael Faraday and Thomas Huxley were prominent contemporary critics of Home's claims.[49] It was the poet Robert Browning however, who proved to be one of Home's most adamant critics. After attending a séance of Home's, Browning wrote in a letter to The Times that: 'the whole display of hands, spirit utterances etc., was a cheat and imposture'.[50] Browning gave his unflattering impression of Home in the poem, "Sludge the Medium" (1864). His wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was convinced that the phenomena she witnessed were genuine and their discussions about Home were a constant source of disagreement.[51] Frank Podmore writes of a Mr Merrifield's first-hand account of experiencing Home's fraudulence during a séance.[50]

Robert Browning, who wrote "Sludge the Medium" about Home.
Home's fame grew, fuelled by his ostensible feats of levitation. William Crookes claimed to know of more than 50 occasions in which Home levitated "in good light" (gas light) at least five to seven feet above the floor.[52] Home's feats were recorded by Frank Podmore: "We all saw him rise from the ground slowly to a height of about six inches, remain there for about ten seconds, and then slowly descend."[53] In the following years Home travelled across continental Europe, and always as a guest of wealthy patrons. In Paris, he was summoned to the Tuileries to perform a séance for Napoleon III. He also performed for Queen Sophia of the Netherlands, who wrote: "I saw him four times...I felt a hand tipping my finger; I saw a heavy golden bell moving alone from one person to another; I saw my handkerchief move alone and return to me with a knot... He himself is a pale, sickly, rather handsome young man but without a look or anything which would either fascinate or frighten you. It is wonderful. I am so glad I have seen it..."[54]
In 1866, Mrs Jane Lyon, a wealthy widow, adopted Home as her son, giving him £60,000[55] in an attempt to gain introduction into high society. Finding that the adoption did not change her social situation, Lyon changed her mind, and brought a suit for the return of her money from Home on the grounds that it had been obtained by spiritual influence. Under British law, the defendant bears the burden of proof in such a case, and proof was impossible since there was no physical evidence. The case was decided against Home,[56] Mrs Lyon's money was returned, and the press pilloried Home's reputation. Home's high society acquaintances thought that he behaved like a complete gentleman throughout the ordeal, and he did not lose a single important friend.[57]
Home met one of his future closest friends in 1867; the young Lord Adare (later the 4th Earl of Dunraven). Adare was fascinated by Home, and began documenting the seances they held. The following year, Home was said to have levitated out of the third storey window of one room, and back in through the window of the adjoining room in front of three witnesses (Adare, Captain Wynne, and Lord Lindsay).[58]

[edit] Personal life

Home married twice. In 1858, he married Alexandria de Kroll ("Sacha"), the 17-year-old daughter of a noble Russian family, in Saint Petersburg, his Best Man was the writer Alexandre Dumas.[59] They had a son, Gregoire ("Grisha"),[59] but Alexandria fell ill with tuberculosis, and died in 1862.[60] In October 1871, Home married for the second, and last time, to Julie de Gloumeline, a wealthy Russian, whom he also met in St Petersburg.[61] In the process, he converted to the Greek Orthodox faith.[62]

[edit] Death

At the age of 38, Home retired due to ill health; the tuberculosis, from which he had suffered for much of his life, was advancing and he said his powers were failing. He died on the 21 June 1886, and was buried in the Russian cemetery of St. Germain-en-Laye Paris.[62][63]

[edit] Critical reaction


Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who says he witnessed Home's mediumship and detailed the four individual types he felt that Home possessed.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stated that Home was unusual in that he had four different types of mediumship: direct voice (the ability to let spirits audibly speak); trance speaker (the ability to let spirits speak through oneself); clairvoyant (ability to see things that are out of view); and physical medium (moving objects at a distance, levitation, etc., which was the type of mediumship in which he had no equal).[64] Home was suspicious of any medium who claimed powers he himself did not possess, particularly the materializing mediums (such as the Eddy Brothers), who claimed the ability to produce solid spirit forms, and he marked these as fraudulent.[64] Since materializing mediums always work in darkened places, Home urged that all séances be held in the light.[64] In his 1877 book Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism, he detailed the conjuring tricks employed by false mediums.[65]
Lord Adare stated that Home "swung out and in" of a window in a horizontal position:
"He came in [through the window] again, feet foremost, and we returned to the other room. It was so dark I could not see clearly how he was supported" [outside of the three story window].[66]
Outside the house there is an extending ledge connecting the balconies of each described window.[67] Frank Podmore recorded that Home had a constant companion that sat opposite of him during his séances.[68] A lady acted as a medium and used to help Home during the seances attended by Henrietta Ada Ward.[69]
Between 1870 and 1873, chemist and physicist William Crookes conducted experiments to determine the validity of the phenomena produced by three mediums: Florence Cook, Kate Fox, and Home. Crookes' final report in 1874 concluded that the phenomena produced by all three mediums were genuine, a result which was roundly derided by the scientific establishment.[70] Crookes recorded that he controlled and secured Home by placing his feet on the top of Home's feet.[71] Crooke's method of foot control later proved inadequate when used with Eusapia Palladino, as she merely slipped her foot out and in of her sturdy shoe. In addition, Crookes' motives, methods, and conclusions with regard to Florence Cook were called into question, both at the time and subsequently, casting doubt on his conclusions about Home.[72][73] Alexander von Boutlerow, Professor of Chemistry at the University of St. Petersburg and Home's brother-in-law, also obtained positive results in his tests of Home.[74]
Frank Podmore and Milbourne Christopher provide a source of speculation on the ways in which Home could have duped his sitters.[75][76][77] Some testimony suggests that he often conducted his demonstrations in dim light. For example, there is this report from a witness: "The room was very dark...Home's hands were visible only as a faint white heap".[78] The light conditions during Home's most famous feat of levitation were disputed, but some witnesses recorded that it was quite dark. Gordon Stein speculated on the deception of Crookes' testing devices (with diagrams) and gave a third-hand account of Home being caught with a vial of oil of Phosphorus. During a Crookes test when Home "is not touching with his hands." there are objects just lying beneath his hands that his fingertips are touching, a small match box and a small bell. The measuring arm of Crookes' gauge does not exactly "move." It trembles.[79][80] it was reported by sitters and Crookes that Home's accordion played only two pieces, Home Sweet Home and The Last Rose of Summer - both contain only one-octave. Home played his accordion with only one hand beneath a table [80] In 1869, at the residence of Miss Douglas, Crooke's assistant watched Home play the accordion, enclosed in a cage, while he watched beneath the table. He saw nothing suspicious.[81] Skeptic James Randi stated that Home was caught cheating on a few occasions, but the episodes were never made public, and that the accordion Home is supposed to have played was a one-octave mouth organ that Home concealed under his large moustache. Randi writes that one-octave mouth organs were found in Home's belongings after his death.[82] According to Randi 'around 1960' William Lindsay Gresham told Randi he had seen these mouth organs in the Home collection at the Society for Psychical Research.[83] Eric Dingwall,[84] who catalogued Home's collection on its arrival at the SPR does not record the presence of the mouth organs, and Lamont speculates that it is unlikely Dingwall would have missed these or not made them public.[83] The accordion in the SPR collection is not the actual one Home used; a duplicate is displayed. [85]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Lamont, Peter (2005). The First Psychic: The Extraordinary Mystery of a Notorious Victorian Wizard. Abacus. ISBN 0-349-11825-6., pxiii
  2. ^ Houdini, Harry (2011). A Magician Among the Spirits. Cambridge University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-108-02748-9. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aNUo2iJ5wZIC&pg=PA38&dq=one+of+the+most+conspicuous+and+lauded+of+his+type+and+generation&hl=sv&ei=-K1tTqyDAcSK4gSWj7mJBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
  3. ^ F.W.H. Meyers and W. Barrett,D.D. Home, His Life and Mission, Journal of the Society fo Psychical Research 4(July 1889) Appendix D, pages 121-122
  4. ^ .Merrifield statement appears as A Sitting With D. D. Home, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 11 (May 1903): pages 76-80
  5. ^ The Sorcerer of Kings by Gordon Stein, Ph.D, Prometheus Books, pages 101-102 and page 126
  6. ^ a b Lamont 2005 p5
  7. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 p22
  8. ^ Journal of the Society For Psychical Research, vol 70, no.4, 246-48
  9. ^ a b Lamont 2005 p6
  10. ^ a b Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 p20
  11. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 p30
  12. ^ Lamont 2005 pp6-7
  13. ^ "Altered Dimensions". SparTech Software. http://www.spartechsoftware.com/dimensions/mystical/DanielHome.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
  14. ^ Lamont 2005 p8
  15. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 p17
  16. ^ Lamont 2005 p13
  17. ^ Hoare, Philip (2005-09-10). "A talent for ectoplasm". The Guardian. http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/books/story/0,10595,1566310,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  18. ^ a b Lamont 2005 p14
  19. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 pp18-19
  20. ^ Lamont 2005 p15
  21. ^ a b Lamont 2005 p16
  22. ^ Fodor, Nandor. "News and articles on Mediumship Psi and survival". Survival after death. http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/mediums/home.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  23. ^ Lamont 2005 pp16-17
  24. ^ Lamont 2005 p17
  25. ^ Lamont 2005 p18
  26. ^ Lamont 2005 p19
  27. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 p25
  28. ^ Lamont 2005 p20
  29. ^ Lamont 2005 pp28-29
  30. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 pp26-27
  31. ^ Lamont 2005 pp29-30
  32. ^ a b Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp186-190
  33. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 p62
  34. ^ Lamont 2005 pp30-31
  35. ^ a b Lamont 2005 p31
  36. ^ Griffin, A. M.. "Experiences of Judge J. W. Edmonds, in Spirit Life. With a Poem, "The Home of the Spirit."". Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan, 1876. http://www.assumption.edu/whw/Hatch/EdmondsInSpiritLife.html. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
  37. ^ Lamont 2005 pp31-33
  38. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 pp62-63
  39. ^ Lamont 2005 p37
  40. ^ Lamont 2005 pp34-35
  41. ^ Lamont 2005 p35
  42. ^ Home “Incidents in my Life” 1863 pp70-71
  43. ^ Lamont 2005 p36
  44. ^ Lamont 2005 pp36-37
  45. ^ Lamont 2005 p43
  46. ^ Lamont 2005 pp43-44
  47. ^ Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp188-192
  48. ^ The North British review. 39. 1863. p. 175. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SSYaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA175&dq=dunglas+home&hl=en&ei=bZimTdTWN96M4gaaw8iICg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=dunglas%20home&f=false.
  49. ^ The North British review. 39. 1863. pp. 186–187. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SSYaAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA186&dq=dunglas+home&hl=sv#v=onepage&q&f=false.
  50. ^ a b Podmore, Frank (2003). Newer Spiritualism. Kessinger Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-7661-6336-2. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g__q8K3uhkAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Newer+Spiritualism&source=bl&ots=K-xJVvFchC&sig=VSgAJJOjEjpGavEeCHSb6GtC9js&hl=en&ei=JZ-mTbbpEs22hAfg69XQCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
  51. ^ Lamont 2005 p50
  52. ^ Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 p196
  53. ^ Podmore “Mediums of the Nineteenth Century, Part 1.” 2003 p254
  54. ^ Een Vreemdelinge in Den Haag, Hella Haasse, 1984
  55. ^ Amy Lehman (2009). Victorian women and the theatre of trance: mediums, spiritualists and mesmerists in performance. McFarland. p. 145. ISBN 0-7864-3479-1.
  56. ^ The Bar Reports, VII, London: Horace Cox, 1868, pp. 451–457, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=easDAAAAQAAJ
  57. ^ Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp207-209
  58. ^ Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp196-197
  59. ^ a b Christiansen (2000) p.142
  60. ^ Christiansen (2000) p.147
  61. ^ Christiansen (2000) p.154
  62. ^ a b Christiansen (2000) p.156
  63. ^ Lamont, 2005 p. 222-223
  64. ^ a b c Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp204-205
  65. ^ This book contains no discussion of the making of raps and fire-proofing oneself. Explanations for creating raps and fire-proofing oneself can be found in Revelations of a Spirit Medium by Harry Price and Eric J. Dingwall, Arno Press, 1975 reprint of 1891 edition by Charles F. Pidgeon. This rare, overlooked, and forgotten, book gives the "insider's knowledge" of 19th century deceptions.
  66. ^ Adare “Experiences in Spiritualism” 1976 p83
  67. ^ "ESP Extrasensory Perception", Chapter 5, Spiritualism, Spirits and Mediums, photograph page 63, by Simeon Edmonds, Wilshire Book co, 1975
  68. ^ Podmore “Mediums of the Nineteenth Century, Part 1.” 2003 p45
  69. ^ Memories of Nintey Years by Mrs E. M. Ward (Henrietta Mary Ada Ward), Henry Holt,2nd edition, 1925, page 102
  70. ^ Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp230-251
  71. ^ Crookes 1874
  72. ^ Irwin, Harvey J.; Watt, Caroline (2007). An Introduction to Parapsychology (fifth ed.). McFarland. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-7864-3059-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=E3EzxyOufbgC&lpg=PP1&dq=An%20introduction%20to%20parapsychology&pg=PA18#v=onepage&q=William%20Crookes&f=false. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  73. ^ Hall, Trevor H. (1963). The spiritualists: the story of Florence Cook and William Crookes. Helix Press.
  74. ^ Lamont 2005 p222
  75. ^ Christopher “ESP,Seer & Psychics: What the Occult Really Is” 1971 pp174-187
  76. ^ Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 p207
  77. ^ Milbourne “ESP,Seer & Psychics: What the Occult Really Is” 1971 pp174-187
  78. ^ Podmore “Mediums of the Nineteenth Century, Part 1.” 2003 p233
  79. ^ The Sorcerer of Kings by Gordon Stein, Prometheus Books, 1993
  80. ^ a b The Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteeth and Twentieth Centuries by Ruth Brandon, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983,
  81. ^ Music and Spiritualism by Melvyn J. Willen, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 62, No. 848, page 45
  82. ^ Randi, James. "An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural". James Randi Educational Foundation. http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Home,%20Daniel%20Dunglas.html. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  83. ^ a b Lamont 2005 p 302
  84. ^ Gale Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology: Eric John Dingwall
  85. ^ "ESP Extrasensory Perception", Chapter 5, Spiritualism, Spirits and Mediums by Simeon Edmonds, Wilshire Book co, 1975

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

  • Afterlife: an Investigation, by Colin Wilson, 1987.
  • Mediums, Mystics and the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Crowell, 1975
  • Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women by Ricky Jay, Villard Books, 1987; See pages 37–42, Photos on page 40.
  • Revelations of a Spirit Medium by Harry Price and Eric J. Dingwall, Arno Press, 1975 reprint of 1891 edition by Charles F. Pidgeon. This rare, overlooked, and forgotten, book gives the "insider's knowledge" of 19th century deceptions
  • Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum, Penguin Press, 2006; Briefly discusses Home's career and the scientific investigation of his abilities, in the larger context of the 19th century and the scientific inquiry into life beyond death.

[edit] External links

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