Top 10 Fake Spiritualists Who Were Caught In The Act
Spiritualism, the belief that the living may contact the deceased, has made many people a small fortune, so much so that it appears as though almost anyone could set up a show, either on the road or in their homes.
It was popular among the poor and the wealthy, among the uneducated and the highest classes of society. People wanted to believe that there was something good after death. They wanted to communicate with those they had lost, and some people just wanted to be entertained.
10 An American in Paris
Mrs. Mary Williams was wildly popular in the United States, and in 1894, she decided to take her show on the road and travel throughout Europe. She had several planned stops, such as Berlin, The Hague, and St. Petersburg. Her first stop was set for Paris, but unfortunately for her, the French had planned a trap for the spiritualist. During her first seance, one man “seized the spirit, which proved to be a doll, and other persons lighted the candles.”
9 Naughty Parrot
This spiritualist spent innumerable hours teaching her parrot different phrases. During the seances, the parrot would say certain things on queue from its spot hidden behind some drapes. The parrot’s voice was said to be the voice of a long-dead nun.
During one particular seance in 1913, the parrot decided that enough was enough and flew out from behind the curtains, landing on the seance table. This naturally generated a lot of anger, and the people at the seance mobbed the spiritualist and left her severely injured.
8 Spirits Reading the Mail
Dr. Walter E. Reid had a similar scam running in Grand Rapids, Michigan, back in 1890.
According to the man’s advertisement, people wishing to ask a question of a deceased person could write the question on a sheet of paper and seal it in an envelope.
7 The Flower Medium of Berlin
In 1903, news hit the world that Frau Rothe had been outed as a fraud, taken to trial, and convicted. She had managed to fool not only common people but also a number of German officials with her materializing flowers and fruit, but police detectives caught her in the act of foolery.
6 A Medium of Many Clothes
Mrs. Elsie Reynolds held her seances in the Grand Pacific Hotel in California. Before giving one particular seance in 1906, she was warned that there might be an attempt to prove that she was a fraud. Thinking that she could outsmart whoever was set to expose her, she hired a guard to remain in the seance room and watch over the medium’s cabinet.
5 Wardrobe Problem
During Mr. Chambers’s final seance in London, one of the sitters turned on a flashlight and lit up the spirit. Suddenly, everyone saw “Chambers with his coat and waistcoat removed, his boots off, and his trousers turned up to the knee. He had a white cloth suspended from his waist and a handkerchief on his head, and was shrouded
4 Grabbed in the Spirit Form
Originally from California, Courtney decided to go to Detroit and make his fortune there. For about a month, he held his seances until one day in 1893, when he was caught in the act.
William Cox attended Courtney’s last seance in Detroit.
3 Kissing Spirits
In a shocking incident in Detroit in 1885, a man denounced spiritualism as a fraud when a seance went bad. After the lights went out and the medium did his act, he would not only play a bit of guitar in the dark, but he would also take a long-handled paddle covered in flannel material and touch the sitters lightly on the cheek while making a kissing sound. One man decided to grab hold of the kisser and discovered the paddle. There was a struggle, but the medium was quick and was able to get back into his seat and slip his hands through the loops.
2 Spirit Land Photographs
Mrs. Louisa Reed used Fallis’s services to find out what her deceased child now looked like in the spirit land. What she got back was a photograph of a beautiful five-year-old child. Excited, she took the photograph to another photographer to have it enlarged, but her hopes were quickly dashed. She learned from the second photographer that he had enlarged that same picture numerous times before and that Fallis had deceived her.
1 Never Shake Hands with the Living
“No physical contact with the living” should have been the rule for one Portland, Maine, medium back in 1877. Her gimmick was to sit behind a screen in the corner of a room and send out spirit forms to interact with the sitters.
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