Help! Victorian Spiritualism & Parlour Games

[Mr Bleak]

D.D. Home was a fascinating character who seems to have not been 100% fake--according to eyewitness accounts he really could do some amazing feats while under the spirits' influence--but like a lot of other Spiritualist-influenced paranormal performers, he wasn't above faking a manifestation when he couldn't work up an actual one. I can kind of understand that, if a medium who was actually in contact with paranormal forces just can't reach the spirits even though they have a paying audience, they wouldn't want to disappoint said paying audience because the spooks pulled a no-show tonight so they work up an impressive fake to show them instead.

I am more of a sceptic. I am happy to concede that Home was never exposed for his mediumship, there was a scandal involving an older lady adopting him, giving him large sums of money, then wanting her cash back, and then taking him to Court. Ethically that is a separate issue as far as I am concerned. There is a lot that I can not explain about D.D. Home's mediumship. It is worth remembering that he provided seances for some quite high up people including Napoleon III. If caught trying to hoodwink Napoleon III he would most probably been jailed. Not someone who would seen the funny side if you made him look like a silly ass.

As for fake mediums, yes from my reading on the subject, I am happy to accept that even the most devoted advocate of Spiritualism would accept the high level of charlatans.

 

[escargot]

Thank you....a fascinating thread. Made me smile to read how the creases in Colin Evans' trousers became significant. One of the sayings of my dear departed mama was that 'You can tell a lot about a man from his trousers'. How right she was.

For sure.

Are they crumpled? Clean? Pressed? With or without a crease?

Clincher: are they the right length?

As Techy and I're shortarses our trousers and jeans have to be turned up. I get that job.

 

[Mr Bleak]

To return to Daniel Dunglas Home, was looking at Desmond Seward's biography 'Eugenie-The Empress and Her Empire' about Napoleon III's wife Eugenie, published in 2004. The author mentions another scandal involving Home, saying that he was sent to the Mazas Prison for being 'a thief and sodomite' , and expelled from France, after holding seances in Paris. The relevant footnote cited Comte Horace de Viel 's 'Memoires sur le Regne de Napoleon III' ,which appeared in 1884. Would be interested in knowing more about this episode .....trouble is I can't find a translation of de Viel's work in English. It seems that charges were never brought against Home.

EDIT - Home's expulsion from France would have occurred end of 1863 or 1864 I think.

 

[Mr Bleak]

Just found a copy of Daniel Dunglas Hume's autobiography Incidents in my Life from Archive.org
Also quite a sympathetic documentary on Youtube The Extraordinary Life of Daniel Dunglas Home - (A Documentary by Dr Keith Parsons).

 

[Mr Bleak]

Thought must just add this to the mix.....latest Fortean Times FT431 has an article 'The Nameless Grave' by Kate Cherrell. Just had a look at Kate's blog BurialsandBeyond.com and looks incredible. A great deal about Victorian Spiritualism and more besides.

 

[Mr Bleak]

Remember consulting 'The Spiritualists-The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries' by Ruth Brandon ( 1983) .
There was a mention of a London medium by the name of Mrs Marshall who received a visit from the spirit of David Livingstone -at a time when he was held to be lost in Africa. This spirit informed Mrs Marshall and her sister that he had been killed by natives and eaten. Of course Doctor Livingstone was found alive. I am not sure of the date of the seance in question but think that this would have been around 1870.

 

[Mr Bleak]

Going back once more to Daniel Dunglas Home, finally treated myself to Peter Lamont's 'The First Psychic-The Peculiar Mystery of a Notorious Wizard' . Had previously only had a chance to read it at The British Library. Also started reading Peter Lamont's 'Extraordinary Beliefs- A Historical Approach to a Psychological Problem' . The latter includes material on Home but deals with the subject of how historians deal with claims of what most people would consider are extraordinary /paranormal . Quite intense reading, but useful and thought provoking. I am not sure about the title though (!) . Calling such an issue a 'Psychological Problem' seems to have unduly negative connotations,,,and Peter Lamont is quite fair and relatively objective .