Physical Mediumship

I chanced across a Podcasts (Anomaly) with Dr Ian Rubensteing, who is a practicing GP in North London and also a medium. I was interested enough to look a bit deeper and realised I had come across him before in another Podcast (Unexplained) some years ago.

It seems unusual for a GP to openly admit he is also a practicing medium, and he has also published a book, Consulting Spirit, A Doctor’s Experience with Practical Mediumship, from which the following quote comes.

“One morning during a busy clinic my dead grandfather dropped in for a chat...
This sent me off on a journey: a mad dash through territory populated by mediums, psychics, poltergeists, and ghost hunters. Along the way I met some fascinating and often strange people.”

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CONSULTING...1652&sprefix=dr+ian+rubenstein,aps,111&sr=8-1

Anyway, if anyone is interested in his unusual story here are a couple of links to the podcasts.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/anomaly-paranormal-podcast/id1525156635

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-unexplained-with-howard-hughes/id155963493?i=1000428495804
 
Yes I remember him explaining that as I had been getting a bit bemused by the Americanisms. Just looked up my orders. I got it in April '16 and was confident I'd got it for 99p well bu88er me must have been having a funny turn, I NEVER buy kindle books at the full price but in this case I did. :evillaugh: I enjoyed the read wasn't totally convinced or totally disbelieving either.
 
Sollywos said:
wasn't totally convinced or totally disbelieving either.
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Here's my take on it: with non-fiction there are three levels of honesty.

1. Factual and externally checkable.
2. Possibly bollocks but believed by the writer.
3. A pack of entertaining lies.

Books on spirituality can only fall into the second or third categories.
Authors might chuck in aspects of (1) to sound more truthful.
There definitely were a 9/11 disaster and an Indian Ocean tsunami, for example, but we only have our author's word that they foresaw them or spoke with deceased victims.

I've enjoyed books by the likes of Doris Stokes, Colin Fry and Derek Acorah, all colossal liars and fakes who were continually debunked. Great yarns though. :chuckle:
 
escargot said:
I've enjoyed books by the likes of Doris Stokes, Colin Fry and Derek Acorah, all colossal liars and fakes who were continually debunked. Great yarns though.
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yup! Load of old bobbins is my reaction to many fortean instances - including Enfield, Amityville, all phenomena = demonic, pagan survival into modern times etc etc etc.

Doesn't stop me reading about them avidly and finding debate on them stimulating and worthwhile. It's the whining ooooooooooh someone disagrees with me so I'm going to throw my toys out the pram reaction that isn't fortean ( unless as a subject in itself) and not honest belief or disbelief.
 
Frideswide said:
yup! Load of old bobbins is my reaction to many fortean instances - including Enfield, Amityville, all phenomena = demonic, pagan survival into modern times etc etc etc.

Doesn't stop me reading about them avidly and finding debate on them stimulating and worthwhile. It's the whining ooooooooooh someone disagrees with me so I'm going to throw my toys out the pram reaction that isn't fortean ( unless as a subject in itself) and not honest belief or disbelief.
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Heh yup. Enfield and Amityville're prime examples of good old-fashioned tosh.
There are many more.

We Brits don't go much for demons either. :chuckle:
 
Frideswide said:
yup! Load of old bobbins is my reaction to many fortean instances - including Enfield, Amityville, all phenomena = demonic, pagan survival into modern times etc etc etc.

Doesn't stop me reading about them avidly and finding debate on them stimulating and worthwhile. It's the whining ooooooooooh someone disagrees with me so I'm going to throw my toys out the pram reaction that isn't fortean ( unless as a subject in itself) and not honest belief or disbelief.
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Forteans are the least gullible people, we've seen it all before popular books by the well known TV mediums are not really meant for the likes of us, we demand more evidence than they can ever supply but also a little humility from the author, which seems to be in short supply in the genre

I have no doubt there are some very genuine and good mediums out there, but they are rare, of course there are those that are delusional and think they are!

To me good evidence is

  1. Witnessed by others (preferably unconnected or without skin in the game)
  2. Good Evidence of existence (Names, dates, addresses knowledge unknown to many)
 
Robbrent said:
Forteans are the least gullible people, we've seen it all before popular books by the well known TV mediums are not really meant for the likes of us, we demand more evidence than they can ever supply but also a little humility from the author, which seems to be in short supply in the genre
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I was brought up with ghost books (also those on the subjects of UFOs, Bigfoot, Yetis, the Hollow Earth, ESP etc) courtesy of my Forteanly-minded father. Ghosts are my very favourite subject to read about.

If I want to read popular books by the well known TV mediums then I certainly will. :chuckle:
 
escargot said:
I was brought up with ghost books (also those on the subjects of UFOs, Bigfoot, Yetis, the Hollow Earth, ESP etc) courtesy of my Forteanly-minded father. Ghosts are my very favourite subject to read about.

If I want to read popular books by the well known TV mediums then I certainly will. :chuckle:
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I don't think there is problem nor a prohibition in reading them, but as for believing them or treating them as entertaining works of fiction, I don't really read much fiction but I am aware that death and the hereafter sells nearly as well as sex, I prefer witness accounts and research that covers all bases, but putting my faith (as to the reality or otherwise of the hereafter) into the hands of a TV medium just doesn't cut the mustard, the whole panoply of Fortean phenomena interests me, just the whole weirdness of the world and the crazy humans that live here (I'm talking to you lot, not me obviously;) )
 
escargot said:
Having recently mentioned Doris Stokes, Colin Fry and Derek Acorah, all now deceased, I'm wondering when we'll hear from them again. :thought:
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They are probably forbidden from contacting this mortal plain as punishment for all their depict, or if the cosmic joker is feeling humorous (when is he or she not humorous ) they may have been reincarnated without a glimpse of the hereafter
 
frankiefelix said:
Quite a few references to Harry Price here but not a "Rosalie" thread SFAIAA. I may have to find a YouTube feature and link it.
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If you haven't already listened to it, the Dark Histories episode devoted to Harry Price and Rosalie may be of interest:

https://www.darkhistories.com/harry-price-the-seance-of-rosalie/

That was the one case that left arch-sceptic and debunker Price undecided as, whilst suspecting a possible hoax, he couldn't see how the "materialisation" of a young girl could have been faked.
If you'd like to know the postscript to the case, then click below...

A letter sent some years after Price's death was a confession from the woman who, as a young girl, played the role of the supposed spirit Rosalie. Her father, a Mr Mortimer, previously only referred to as Mr X, had been defrauding a wealthy French widow, who was desperate to contact the spirit of her dead daughter. The Mortimers persuaded their young daughter to play the role of a silent (and naked) spirit. Price, when invited to join a séance, had taped up the windows and sprinkled powder around the entrance, but apparently had been fooled by the cunning Mr Mortimer having installed a trap somewhere in the room with a well-lubricated and silent hinge so, on hearing a particular trigger phrase, the young girl could slip silently in or out the room in the near total darkness.
 
I have found twice in my life that I can still myself, when looking in the bathroom mirror, and see other faces superimposed. Despite the gap in years and places, it was the same faces that appeared in some kind of sequence, like it was a group of people using me as a window to look into this world ('Alright Johnny you've had your chance, now get out the way so the rest of us can peak out the window!')
 
Anyone watching Britians Last Witch on BBC IPlayer prestend by Sian Eleri about the mediumHelen Duncan.
 
Tempest63 said:
Must say though, the “creative” photography, showing landscape images upside down is a bit off putting.
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Yeah what the heck is that all about???
I was watching all the episodes back to back ... but managed to fall asleep so missed the final two! I'll give them another go.
 
Whenever I see this thread's title, I imagine a quivering voice saying: "Is there anybody there?"

TL;DR What a pillock.
 
oraclepaige said:
I have found twice in my life that I can still myself, when looking in the bathroom mirror, and see other faces superimposed. Despite the gap in years and places, it was the same faces that appeared in some kind of sequence, like it was a group of people using me as a window to look into this world ('Alright Johnny you've had your chance, now get out the way so the rest of us can peak out the window!')
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I had a similar experience once when vacationing in Maine on an island the coast. A pirates haven named Vinalhaven. I was hanging out in an old quarry mans workhouse with a bunch of interesting degenerates and took the opportunity after a stroll on the headlands to pick a number of white morning glory seeds pods growing wild. These were rumored to be hallucinogenic so I calculated the dose but did not expect much as they were green and unripened.

I took a nap and as I was relaxing a very distinct stream of faces appeared in my visual cortex as sort of a transparent overlay of the external scene. This area was part of a territory that ancestors from the Native side had called home. So I am thinking it was sort of like the hall of eternity leading up to the present with all those ancestors that had come before.
 
Tempest63 said:
I’ve watched the first two episodes and quite enjoyed them.
I’m saving the last two for tomorrow.
Must say though, the “creative” photography, showing landscape images upside down is a bit off putting.
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I watched the last two episodes tonight and quite enjoyed them.
I don’t think there was a conclusive outcome to the show. Those on the sceptical side will say it was all hocus pocus, and those who believe will say the case for Helen Duncan was proved. Not enough evidence either way.
I was completely underwhelmed with the seance she attended in the Netherlands; as Sian said, even Helen Duncan had a red lamp in her seance room. I don’t believe you can trust anything held in complete darkness.
From my own experience with mediums I would say one was pretty spot on and could convince someone on the fence that the potential for life after death was proved, yet the one I had afterwards was a complete load of bollocks and didn’t come close to scratching the surface of believability.
 
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