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Spiritualism

Nope. It's never genuinely happened. Nor have the police, (apart from this ridiculous waste of tax payers' money) taken any part in it.
 
Marcello Truzzi and Arthur Lyon look into this extensively in The Blue Sense, a study of how psychics work out in the field. The book is worth reading in its entirety, but I can give you a little of where they came down.

First, out of all the cases they studied, the only direct, specific, and impressive psychic "hit" that they identified was of no utility at all in solving the case. The rest of the correct information was of such a nature that, even if honestly delivered as a psychic vision, it could be put down to the psychic's recognition of patterns and experience with similar cases. So a psychic who has participated in numerous manhunts can in fact provide good assistance to a small-town police force whose experience is primarily with traffic violations and minor peace disturbances; but this is true of anybody with similar experience.

Second, even if psychics functioned as they claim to, the evidence they provide raises numerous legal complications. Psychic evidence is not admissible in court and cannot be used as the basis for a warrant, for example. (They were studying American cases, but in broad outline this holds for most modern judicial systems.) Therefore, they would be more useful in finding missing people than in prosecuting a kidnapper.

Third, since (at least in America) it is legal to lie to suspects during questioning - the old "we don't need your testimony because your partner sang like a canary; we just want to give you a chance to tell your side of the story" trick - having a fake psychic in whose powers the suspect believes somewhere in the wings has potential as an interrogation technique! (And probably elicits more reliable info than waterboarding.)
 
Thanks Peni and Rynner. I'm late for work, but i'll read-up the evening over a beer.
 
rynner said:
Remarkably, it now seemed that the medium may have actually predicted the future, and in a much more precise manner than usual. If the medium actually had seen me giving a blood sample at the doctor's then telepathy could not be an explanation, since I did not know that it would happen, and the doctor only decided to do it on the spur of the moment. It's also interesting that there was no great emotional significance to this routine medical proceedure, because although my medical problems were annoying they were not crippling or life threatening.
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 886#205886
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I find that attempts to classify or find meaning in such things are often inadequate. For example:
My next door neighbour died not too long ago.
It must have been about two weeks later that I went visiting and realised I would need some petrol for the journey. As I approached the petrol station, I heard laughter, someone half-way through a joke about another troublesome neighbour and a voice that I recognised as my deceased neighbour. Then she said, "hello" John, are you alright?" I replied, "Yes, I'm fine xxx" and that was it.
No meaning, no telepathy, just nice to hear from departed friends.
I went sailing past the petrol station and had to complete my journey on almost empty.
 
Didn't know where to put this so it's here.

On today's Woman's Hour there's a fascinating piece about Rosemary Brown, the 'housewife pianist' who claimed to have been given new musical works from beyond the grave by famous composers. Her son Tom is present for the discussion - what a coup, to get him! - and he remembers her as an enthusiastic pianist who was untrained in composition. He says she claimed all her life to be psychic and was sincere in her beliefs. Hr's not so sure.

There's a play on R4 about her this afternoon, The Lambeth Walks. I'll be at work then but will be catching it later on the iPlayer.

(Reminds me of a slightly similar short story by Roald Dahl about a stray cat which a lady pianist comes to believe is a reincarnation of the composer Liszt!)
 
escargot1 said:
a fascinating piece about Rosemary Brown
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I have her autobiography, Unfinished Symphonies, as well as two LPs of her compositions. She was the subject of a television documentary in the early 1970s, which must have marked the peak of her fame. The Philips LP was a tie-in, from the days when niche-interests could suddenly go mainstream and draw in a wide audience.

Several videos are on Youtube.

I'm inclined to think that her spiritualism was a means of dealing with her creativity, more an externalization than a deliberate deception. Very like the 19th Century mediums, she was taken up by well-to-do supporters who set up a trust to help her realize her work. The LP came with a recommendation from Sir Donald Tovey, expressing the hope that her work would break down the barriers between the living and the dead. He should have known - he had been dead for over twenty years when he wrote it!

What came over from the book was that this woman of genteel upbringing was unhappy in the rôle of school dinner-lady which circumstances had forced upon her. Her gift had enabled her to surmount obstacles of gender and class which may have seemed larger than the gap between the living and the dead. :violin:
 
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JamesWhitehead said:
What came over from the book was that this woman of genteel upbringing was unhappy in the rôle of school dinner-lady which circumstances had forced upon her. Her gift had enabled her to surmount obstacles of gender and class which may have seemed larger than the gap between the living and the dead. :violin:
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Yes, it was striking how rather cut-glass her accent was compared to her son's when they were both heard on the programme.
 
Yithian said:
Can anyone cite examples of cases where psychics have successfully aided police via their 'powers'. I've certainly heard of plenty of instances where their help was solicited, offered or requested, but I can't recall a case where they actually succeeded in supplying vital leads. I'm quite open to the fact that this may have happened...
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Reading this made me think of the In Search of episode about psychic detectives. This write up on the episode mentions specific people and cases, so it might qualify for what you were looking for:
http://searchnimoy.blogspot.com/2015/04/psychic-detectives-season-1-episode-11.html

When I watched it a few years ago I thought that Bevy Jaegers was the most interesting
https://www.stlmag.com/Second-Sight/
 
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Interesting article/interview about a new book.

... Ptacin’s second book, The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna offers one answer. The book, published by Liveright on October 29, is the result of five years Ptacin spent visiting a summer camp for mediums and clairvoyants in rural Maine. In it, she chronicles the feminist origins of Spiritualism, a little-known religion rooted in the belief that everyone has an innate ability to communicate with the dead. The movement was popularized in the mid-19th century by two sisters who gave public séances, carving out roles for themselves that diverged from what was expected of women at the time.

Through a mix of research, reporting, and personal reflection, Ptacin explores whether we are eternal souls with access to infinite wisdom—or just “giant bags of chemicals, eating and farting our way through life.” The In-Betweens offers a rare glimpse into the day-to-day lives of practicing mediums, which include a host of activities meant to summon spirits. On their face, practices like table tipping, water witching, and ghost hunting may appear no more sophisticated than a Ouija board. But Ptacin cannot help but become a kind of case study in the therapeutic benefits of connecting with the spirit world—or at least pretending to. ...

https://www.guernicamag.com/mira-ptacin-what-does-it-feel-like-to-have-a-ghost-in-the-room/
 
I'm reading in Prediction July 1977 43:7 a regular column by Roy Stemman called Spiritualism Today.

He leads in by saying that it's six months since he posted on

... the very serious accusations made against the president of the Spiritualists National Union, Gordon Higginson."
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Not that many details but it seems that (may have the sequence slightly wrong but it holds up!)

* GH gave a demonstration of clairvoyance at the Grosvenor Street Spiritualist Church in Bristol, in February 1976

* Before the event he had been left alone in a room that had names and addresses pinned to a wall

* The event included these names and addresses

* Psychic News (spiritualist weekly paper) broke the story

* Some people (including those who went on to start and run a new independent Spiritualist Church in Bristol) called for an inquiry by the SNU

* GH denied any wrongdoing and was persuaded not to resign

* Delays had occurred and at the time of this column no review had happened, but the building was being sold off

* 16 months after the event Psychic News had not published anything further

* RS promises to keep returning to the story

I have so many questions!

* Are full names and addresses a frequent event at such an event?

* Is the original Psychic News story available anywhere? what about any follow up?

* Did RS keep coming back to the story - and are they available if he did?

* What was the end result?
 
Here's an interesting upcoming event.

I'm working so can't go. Can we send @Floyd? :)
 

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Timble2 said:
I'd definitely be up for this, but Crewe's a bit far at short notice. Not scary though, maybe a bit weird.
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I knew you'd fancy this. :wink2:

Only seven participants allowed so it will be a strictly-controlled display.

Mirror scrying, spirit boards and table-tipping; phenomena so beloved of fervent Victorian believers, debunked over and over again but still held in awe.

If it's repeated in future and I can go I certainly will, and report back. :bthumbup:
 
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