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Psychic / Medium Levitation Photos (Colin Evans: London, 1938)

JamesWhitehead

JamesWhitehead

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Often included in Believe It or Not type books and occult picture
anthologies are photos of the medium Colin Evans levitating
at a public meeting in North London in 1938.

Some sources say they are infra-red shots. Certainly the audience
members are absorbed in their own thoughts. Even the members
of the circle who look to have been joining hands with Evans do
not seem fully aware of what was going on.

The bearded figure is seen poised awkwardly several feet above
the company. His suit hangs very uncomfortably and the sleeves
look almost empty.

There are at least two photographs, taken at the same moment
but recording it from slightly different angles.

I have never seen a detailed account of the occasion. There are spirtitualist
sites which refer to this as a fully-authenticated case of levitation and
Evans was a famous medium in his day. I have my doubts. Can anyone
throw light on the photos, who took them and why? Presumably infra-red
cameras did not just happen to be there. :)
 
I have tried to attach a photo with this post..
.. is this the photo you mean ??
 
Well, it didn't seem to attach but if you go to Bizarre Magazine it is on their photo archive.
Link is dead. The Wayback Machine's archives for the site (bizarremag.com) do not include any such photo in the photo archive during the last half of 2001 (the timeframe of this post).

See later post for the photo cited here.
It wasn't located in the Bizarre Magazine Photo Archive.
 
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Chris Baker said:
Well, it didn't seem to attach but if you go to Bizarre Magazine it is on their photo archive.
Click to expand...
All I get is porn sites, any other ideas where these pics can be found?:eek!!!!:
 
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To save you and others from the horrors of porn, Pete,
there is a cropped version of one of the photos in the
Brooke Bond tea cards series at:

whom.co.uk/squelch/unexplained_myst.htm
Link and site are dead. No archived version available.

Mysteriously on the site the descriptions are out of synch.
with the pics.

I have two versions in old books, taken, as I mention, from
slightly different angles but depicting the same moment.
The one I can locate right now is in a cheap Octopus paperback from
1983 - 84 entitled Strange but True, edited by one Tim Healey.

The text there is not very helpful. It gives the location as Conway
Hall and states he remained in the air for one minute at a height
of about five metres above the ground. In the picture, he looks to
be only about five feet off the ground. But I'd settle for that, if
it was true. :confused:

This is the text from the Brooke Bond card:

Reliable records of human beings who have risen into the -air and hovered there for a while go back as least so St Joseph of Copertino (1603-63) who made several well witnessed flights over considerable distances. Although one authority lists some 230 levitating saints - the phenomenon is not exclusively Christian - and similar experiences have been claimed by tribal wizards - witches - and spirit mediums among others. Our illustration shows the medium - Colin Evans - photographed by infra red light during a seance in 1938. Comparison of several photos of this event shows that he remained in the air for some time.

And that tends to be the amount of detail we get in the sources I
have found. Someone must have more on this one. :rolleyes:

Couldn't find it on the Bizarre site - but then I didn't find any porn
either. :(
 
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That picture looks to me likes he's actually bouncing or falling - which would account for the strange rumpling of his clothes. And what's that wire trailing out of his fist? Could it be a camera switch? If it was, it meant that he was taking his own picture, at the moment that he was jumping (or bouncing on his heels).
And look at the defensive attitude of the woman on his right - if someone were bouncing heavily up and down right beside me, that's how I'd look.
 
...In fact, having taken a look at another version of the photo, i wonder if he could be faking it entirely, and using that magicians' standby - the collapsible rod. That is, the device that magicians use to fake levitation (there's a whole how-to book on the subject of faking levitation - go to: http://www.magiccty.com/selflev.html).
He could be gripping the top of the rod in his right hand (the one that is hidden from us) - the stress of supporting his whole weight on just one hand would account for the agonised look on his face.
Quite by chance, I found the following passage on a site devoted to 30's medium Jack Webber, in a paragraph about physical mediumship:
"In the case of the levitation that occurred during the seances, this necessitated strong ectoplasmic rods; these were seen by sitters during instances when the seances were not held in absolute darkness..." (http://www.noahsarksoc.fsnet.co.uk/webr.htm)
Surely anything/one capable of bending the laws of physics enough to levitate a grown man several feet could also make these 'ectoplasmic rods' invisible?
 
Interesting.

I have had another look and realised that what looks to be an
empty sleeve for his right arm is in fact just his jacket flapping
open. His arm is just visible behind it.

His trousers are weirdly crumpled as if an invisible person had
grasped him by the legs and was carrying him.

There does appear to be a wire from his left hand and it seems to
touch the hair and face of the seated woman with the dark jacket on.

It could well be the trigger for the photographs.

I think the medium had probably been seated in the circle, hands
joined with the women. Possibly the woman with the raised hand
kept tighter hold and let go later? :confused:
 
bizarremag.com/picture/archive/levitation.html
Link is dead. The MIA webpage is accessible via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010207183039/http://www.bizarremag.com/picture/archive/levitation.html

Here is the photo (the sole content of the MIA webpage).

ColinEvans-levitation-A.jpg


NOTE: This photo page dates from February 2001, and it wasn't located where earlier links (posted above) claimed it was.
 
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James Whitehead said:
His trousers are weirdly crumpled as if an invisible person had
grasped him by the legs and was carrying him.
Click to expand...
The crumpled look of his clothes could maybe come about from him swinging or violently wobbling, as you would do if you were holding yourself upright off the ground with just your hand for a minute or more. His lower torso and legs do appear to be angled forwards a little. Also, maybe the camera just caught a single moment when, perhaps because he was falling, jerking, or whatever, his clothes momemtarily flapped.
As to the woman alngside him, remember that is is all taking place in complete darkness - as far as she was concerned, she probably just felt him rise, and took all his grunting, wobbling and heavy breathing (as he got his rod into place and lifted himself up) as signs of his 'psychic powers'. I've been involved in Spiritualism, and mediums almost always sigh, grunt, make strange sounds and breath noisily when they are 'working'.
Some contemporary eye-witness accounts of this event would have been interesting.
 
If he jumped and the shooter of the film had their shutter very fast, it would reduce blur (like in sports stills) and, given enough exposures, they might get one that looks right. Looking at the kinds of folds in his pants and jacket, that is what I suspect. Interesting pix, though.
 
Is that a wire or something that you can just see in the 2nd picture coming up from behind his head?

His trousers aren't just crumpled, look at his ankles, they've ridden up quite a bit too, and his legs seem to hang vertically down whereas from the waist up he's leaning forward a bit.

Do you suppose he's got a heavy belt on, then he walks into the audience in the near dark, slips a hook on the end of the cable into his belt, then it whips him up? It would explain the pained facial expression as his crotch rises up:eek:

If he was doing something on stage right before this, all eyes would be on him while the hook lowered. Then perhaps as he walks off you kill the stagelights and he's got some leeway to do the stunt while people's eyes are still ajusting to the dark?

Just a thought.

I have a friend who's done a bit of amateur stage magic, I'll see if I can get him to have a look at this.
 
In the 1930s the best infrared films were very slow (typically 16 ASA). Unless this image was shot under intense floodlights - I believe that it must almost certainly have been flashlit. This is not a long exposure - the motion of the audience is frozen. A woman is captured mid blink (perhaps reacting to the flash - which would probably have been slightly longer than we are used to today). The woman to the left of the fraudster is also reacting to something sudden. Again - probably the flash (and possibly a powder flash).

I believe that this is a moment captured by flash. A man jumping perhaps. Or balancing. The version of the image at http://www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/levitation.jpg also looks flashlit. Notice the reflections of the strong light - in the background - and on the back of the head of the man in the foreground.

I don't really see any reason why anyone would claim that this is an infrared photograph. Or, indeed, what this would add or take away in terms of the veracity of the claims made for the image.
 
Evans performed his levitation in the UK during 1937 and 1938. Long story short - he was a fake.
In a flash-illuminated picture taken at a séance in Wortley Hall, Finsbury Park in 1937 Evans can be seen "levitating" in mid-air. He claimed that spirits had lifted him. Evans was later discovered to be a fraud, as a cord leading from a device in his hand has indicated that it was himself who triggered the flash-photograph and that all he had done was jump from his chair into the air and pretend he had levitated. He performed in complete darkness so that sitters in the séance could not see what he was doing. Magicians have pointed out that Evans's blurred feet in the photographs are proof that he simply jumped high into the air.

In another séance held at North Gate Mansions, Regent's Park in 1938, Evans performed the same trick. The sitters were not happy and he had to return the money to those who had paid him.
Click to expand...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Evans_(medium)
 
This 2009 online article provides a more detailed account of Evans' claims and the basis for debunking them. Two additional photos of his performance included in that article are included below.

Levitation Secret Revealed (70 years ago)

... I simply assumed it was a crude hoax and the “medium” appeared to be suspended by an invisible string.

It turns out he accomplished the feat by another method. Can you guess how? Keep reading for more photos of his levitations that may help.

evans2.jpg


evans3.jpg

Notice how his feet seem to be vanishing in the air. Perhaps some sort of gravitational distortion? The photos taken from the side also reveal the awkward position of his body, and all of them (which record at least two different levitations) show some kind of cord in his left hand. ...

“[The photograph] is nothing short of hilarious. It is a flash-illuminated picture of a séance held at Wortley Hall in Finsburg Park, London, showing the attendees holding hands and medium Colin Evans ‘levitating’. A cord leading from a device in Evan’s hand indicates it was he who triggered the flash-photograph – a critical act since the evidence of the photo itself reveals the mechanism of ‘levitation’ and thus indicates its momentary nature: Evan’s feet are a blur above the seat of his chair, his body is in a partially crouched position, and his hair is in disarray. If springing into the air from a crouched position is levitating[…]”, writes skeptic Joe Nickell in Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation.

And that’s it, those photographs merely depict Evans jumping into the air. His movement was freezed by the flash, which he himself activated with that cord, but not entirely, as his feet are blurred. The next question is then, how that packed crowd didn’t denounce the hoax?

In fact, ghost hunter Harry Price already knew the answer to that shortly after Evans’ presentations. One can read in “Fifty years of psychical research: a critical survey”, published in 1939:

“Another unsatisfactory séance was that held at … Regent’s Park, on May 27, 1938, with Mr. Colin Evans. This medium claims that, in complete darkness, he is ‘levitated.’ Mrs. A. Peel Goldney, Mrs. Henry Richards and others were convinced that at this particular test no levitation took place and the cheque paid to the medium was returned to the sitters. A photograph of an alleged psychic levitation of this medium was published in the Daily Mirror, June 13, 1938. See also Photography for January, 1939. How photographs can be obtained of a man assumed to be levitating, but in reality jumping, is graphically recorded (with illustrations) in Proc., SPR, Vol. XLV, Part 158, pp. 196-8.” ...

SOURCE / FULL ARTICLE: http://forgetomori.com/2009/skepticism/levitation-secret-revealed-70-years-ago/
 
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EnolaGaia said:
This 2009 online article provides a more detailed account of Evans' claims and the basis for debunking them.
Click to expand...
I remember this case featuring in several, 'Mysteries of the Unknown' type books, I'm sure a few others also grew up with!

Fascinating to see it fully explained at last and appreciated.

How extraordinary that as I was reading your new information, myr radio was playing in the background and 'Jumping Jack Flash' came on!
 
Comfortably Numb said:
I remember this case featuring in several, 'Mysteries of the Unknown' type books, I'm sure a few others also grew up with!
Fascinating to see it fully explained at last and appreciated.
Click to expand...
Thanks ... I stumbled across this old / open-ended thread while doing some salvage / editing work, and I decided to see whether it could be brought to some closure.
 
PeteS said:
Still, it is amazing how high he could jump with straight legs. He wasn't a young man when those photos were taken.
Click to expand...
Agreed ... However, there's one thing evident in the photos that surprised me even more ...

Evans consistently photographed himself doing his leap with multiple people sitting close around him. I wondered how he avoided landing on someone (or someone's foot) in the dark. If he'd been looking down when the flash activated, he might have glimpsed the floor beneath him and (given quick reflexes) made any mid-leap adjustments necessary to come down in an open space. However, he's looking outward / forward (toward the flash) in each photo, and this would have prevented him from getting a quick preview of a good landing spot.

Another surprising point ... I wonder whether any of the audience members seated around him could hear his landing. It makes me wonder whether he always performed this trick with music playing or some other sound(s) to mask the noise of his landing.
 
escargot said:
'Tea for Two' would have been asking too much! :chuckle:
Click to expand...
The last photo above is mentioned as having been taken while the audience members were singing Tea for Two. I haven't been able to locate any descriptions of his other performances to determine whether they'd included any such music or singing that could have masked the sounds of his leaping or landing.
 
EnolaGaia said:
The last photo above is mentioned as having been taken while the audience members were singing Tea for Two. I haven't been able to locate any descriptions of his other performances to determine whether they'd included any such music or singing that could have masked the sounds of his leaping or landing.
Click to expand...
I would have thought it a bit suspicious that there was always an empty chair beside him
 
EnolaGaia said:
I decided to see whether it could be brought to some closure.
Click to expand...
A bit more to this - 'spirit trumpets' as well?

This is from a spiritualist related web site and unfortunate there's no background information re date and location.

Edit: It does mention 'The Link': seance, if that helps.

49175051731_5bcb767954_n.jpg
 
The Colin Evans and Enfield Poltergeist 'levitation' photos always looked to me like nothing more than shots of people leaping in the air.

I was only a few years older than the two girls involved and remembered a favourite game we kids had of pretending fly by jumping from bed to bed. Beds back then had hefty metal springs which made for a safe landing. (When our mother caught us there was more flying! :chuckle:)

So the Enfield girls probably played the same 'flying' game and it made a great levitation photo. All the clues were there with Evans too.
 
I was fascinated by these pics as a kid, would stare at them for hours trying to figure them out. Even to this day they give me chills...

And then -

Analogue Boy said:
The guy sat in the chair, got everyone to sing and make a noise in the dark, got up on the chair and jumped off it, taking his own picture while he did so.
Click to expand...

I hate you @Analogue Boy . Really I do...


:hahazebs:
 
escargot said:
Enfield Poltergeist 'levitation' photos always looked to me like nothing more than shots of people leaping in the air.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I'm pretty sure that's because they were.

Fascinating case Enfield...the girl's basically admitted they faked it and it was still researched as a case of paranormal phenomena!
 
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