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Exhibits in the Haunted
Museum are based on the work of Troy Taylor from his
book, Ghosts by Gaslight!
Click on the Cover for More About the Book!
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One of the low points in the history of Spiritualism
involves the career of a British medium named Helen Duncan.
Some continue to maintain to this day that she was a
“martyr” to the movement but most see her as one of the
frauds that helped to give Spiritualism a bad name.
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Helen Duncan was born in Scotland
in 1898, married at the age of 20 and began to
develop psychic talents that were much in demand
by the 1930s and 1940s. She traveled the country
during this period and held séances in private
homes and Spiritualist churches. She convinced
thousands of people that the dead could return
in various forms but most often, through
ectoplasm, that slimy, white substance said to
be manifested by spirits. In reality, Helen’s
“ectoplasm” was found to be nothing more than a
mixture of paper, cloth, egg white and surgical
gauze. She was able to regurgitate the
substances on demand. Any lingering doubts about
this were dispelled by the medium’s husband, who
gave an interview late in life that admitted he
had seen his wife swallowing various things
before her séances.
In addition to her ectoplasmic
forms, Duncan also worked with spirit guides.
One in particular was a child named “Peggy”, who
played an important role during the séances.
However, in 1933, at a sitting in Edinburgh, a
policewoman grabbed at “Peggy” as she passed by
her and discovered that the ghostly girl was
actually a torn piece of white underwear! Duncan
was arrested, charged with fraud and fined ten
pounds. Less than two months later though, she
was back at work. |
Helen Duncan -
the medium that some Spiritualists called a
"martyr" to the movement |
Undaunted by her exposure, Duncan proceeded to give a series
of test sittings for the National Laboratory of Psychical
Research, under the direction of its founder, Harry Price
(who we will read much more about later in the book). Price
had already exposed a number of fraudulent mediums but was
not a debunker of what he considered to be genuine. He was
of the opinion that some mediums, including D.D. Home and
Eusapia Palladino had occasionally managed to produce
genuine mental and physical phenomena. Price was not forced
to classify Helen Duncan as one of these exceptional cases,
though. Photographs taken during her sessions revealed that
the “ectoplasm” she produced was a length of cheesecloth
whose bound edges, texture and creases were clearly visible.
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Duncan was
investigated by Harry Price at his laboratory
and he concluded that she produced her effects
by swallowing and then regurgitating materials
that she tried to pass off as "ectoplasm".
Needless to say, he was not impressed.
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None of her
exposures made any difference to Helen’s public.
Outside of the laboratories, her fame continued
to grow and sitters continued to insist that
they recognized departed friends and loved ones
in the ectoplasmic faces that she materialized.
During World War II, her mediumistic powers were
much in demand by relatives of those who had
died in the service. She held a number of
séances in Portsmouth, Hampshire, the home port
of the Royal Navy, and one of these, held on
January 19, 1944, was raided by the police. A
plainclothes policeman who was present blew a
whistle to give a signal and other officers
burst in. A grab was made for the ectoplasm
issuing from the medium and the séance was
abruptly brought to an end. Although nothing
incriminating was found, Duncan, along with
three others who arranged the séance, Ernest and
Elizabeth Homer and Francis Brown, was taken to
the Portsmouth magistrate’s court and arraigned
on charges of conspiracy.
At the
preliminary hearing, the court was told how
Lieutenant R.H. Worth of the Royal Navy had
attended one of Duncan’s séances and suspected
fraud. He bought two tickets for 25 shillings
each for the night of January 19 and took a
policeman named Cross with him. Cross grabbed
the “ectoplasm” that floated past him (which he
believed was a piece of white sheet, although no
sheet was found when the séance was raided) but
he was unable to hang onto it. After the
hearing, bail was refused and as a result,
Duncan was remanded to Holloway Prison in London
for four days before the case was resumed in
Portsmouth. |
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(Left) Duncan is
seen materializing her spirit guide, "Peggy",
which appears to show that "Peggy" is made from
papier-mâché and cheesecloth.
(Right) Another
materialization of "Peggy". Harry Price believed
the "spirit" to be made from cheesecloth with a
cheap, rubber doll's face attached to it. |
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The prosecution seemed to be unsure of what to charge the
mediums with. On their first appearance at Portsmouth, they
were charged under the Vagrancy Act of 1824; but the charge
was then amended to one of conspiracy. When the case was
eventually transferred to the central criminal courts, the
Witchcraft Act of 1735 was cited. Under this ancient act,
the defendants were accused of pretending “to exercise or
use a kind of conjuration that through the agency of Helen
Duncan spirits of deceased persons should appear to be
present”. Other charges were brought under the Larceny Act
(which was more accurate) and they were accused of taking
money “by falsely pretending they were in a position to
bring about appearances of the spirits of deceased persons…”
Needless to say, the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was hopelessly
outdated, regardless of the guilt or innocence of the
defendant. Spiritualists were dismayed by the use of the act
to bring about prosecution of the famous medium. They
believed that she would be found guilty whether or not her
powers were genuine. They were angry because they believed
that Duncan was an authentic medium and was being persecuted
for her genuine gifts. The prosecution, however, clearly
believed that Duncan was a fraud, which was why they charged
her with larceny. The use of the Witchcraft Act remains a
bit of an enigma but it certainly gained the trial a lot of
publicity.
The trial took place in later winter of 1944 and lasted for
seven days. Numerous witnesses testified to events they had
seen at Duncan’s séances. One of them, Kathleen McNeill,
claimed that she had attended a séance where her sister had
appeared. This sister had died just a few hours before,
after an operation, and news of her death could not have
been known to Duncan at the time. At another séance, McNeill
claimed that her father strode out of the spirit cabinet,
looking just as he had when he was alive.
Two journalists, H. Swaffer and J.W. Herries, were also
called by the defense. The flamboyant Swaffer told the court
that not only was ectoplasm real; it could not have been
regurgitated by the medium. That was ridiculous, he stated.
Herries claimed that he had seen Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
materialize at one of Duncan’s séances. He noted the
author’s rounded features and mustache and recognized his
voice, he said. One has to think that Sir Arthur, despite
his great belief in the legitimacy of Spiritualism, would
have been embarrassed to appear at such a shoddy affair as
Duncan was offering.
The prosecution had to make little effort to convince the
jury that Duncan was a fraud. They made liberal use of
photographs taken at Duncan’s séances showing blatantly fake
“ectoplasm” emerging from the medium’s mouth and nose. One
particular favorite was a photo of the spirit child “Peggy”
slithering out of Duncan’s nostrils. In the photo, the
“ectoplasm” boasted a face that was obviously that of a
child’s doll!
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Prosecuting counsel John Maude
produced a long piece of butter muslin and
referred to the report by Harry Price, who
stated that he believed Duncan swallowed the
material and then regurgitated it. The jury
seemed convinced that she was a fraud. At the
start of the trial, the defense offered the jury
an actual demonstration of Duncan’s mediumship
but the judge declined the offer and stated that
perhaps Mrs. Duncan should testify as a witness
instead. The defense replied, however, that
Helen could not testify, as she was in a trance
during the séances and unable to discuss what
transpired. On the final day, the judge changed
his mind and asked the jury if they wanted to
see Helen Duncan perform. After a couple of
minutes of discussion, they declined the offer.
It took just 25 minutes for the
jury to return their verdict: they found the
four defendants guilty of conspiracy to
disregard the Witchcraft Act. They were
discharged from giving verdicts on the other
counts. The judge deferred pronouncing sentence
until after the weekend but when he court did
reconvene, he stated that the verdict had not
been concerned with whether “genuine
manifestations of the kind are possible… this
court has nothing to do with such abstract
questions. The jury has found this to be a case
of plain dishonesty.” He sentenced Duncan to
serve nine months in prison and the medium was
led away moaning and crying. Of the other
defendants, Mrs. Brown was given four months
(she had previous convictions for larceny and
shop-lifting) and the Homers were each given a
small fine and placed on probation for the next
two years. |
In the 1933 court
case, it was alleged that "Peggy" was in fact a
pair of underwear that was manipulated by
Duncan. A vest was produced in evidence with the
seals of witnesses who had attended the séance
attached. |
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One of the photos
used by the prosecution during Duncan's fraud
trial showed the medium with a trail of
"ectoplasm" slithering out of her nose with a
plastic baby doll's head on the end.
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Helen Duncan served her sentence
at Holloway Prison. The Spiritualist movement,
shocked by the verdict, called for a change in
the law to prevent such prosecutions in the
future. They felt that Duncan had been unfairly
treated but they did cool their enthusiasm for
her after the trial. Public perception was that
a fraud had been exposed and officials in the
movement decided to put some distance between
themselves and the medium.
When she was released from prison
on September 22, 1944, Duncan announced that she
was retiring from séances, but thanks to the
large number of faithful followers that she
still had, she soon changed her mind. She
continued to offer private séances for years
afterward.
In 1951, the Witchcraft Act of
1735 was repealed and replaced with the
Fraudulent Mediums Act. Helen Duncan’s trial had
certainly prompted this changed in the law but
hopes from the Spiritualists that they would no
longer be subjected to police harassment were
short-lived. |
In November 1956, police raided a séance taking place in
Nottingham. They grabbed the medium, searched her and
photographed her. They shouted that they were looking for
beards, a mask and a shroud but found nothing. The medium
conducting the séance was Helen Duncan.
Duncan almost immediately became ill after the raid,
possibly from shock, and died five weeks later. The doctors
listed the cause of death as diabetes and heart failure, but
a certain segment of the Spiritualist worth thought
otherwise. Some complained of “police brutality” and even
“murder”, mostly because the medium had been interrupted
during a trance, which all agreed could be extremely
dangerous. Even today, Helen Duncan is still seen by some as
a “martyr” to the cause of Spiritualism, a victim of the
world’s intolerance.
To most though, she is seen as another fraudulent medium
that, unlike most in the same circumstances, actually got
her day in court. Those who point to the egg white and
muslin “ectoplasm”, the phony photographs and the torn
underwear “spirit guides” would say that in this case,
justice prevailed.
© Copyright 2008 by Troy
Taylor. All Rights Reserved.
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