The Spiritualist Movement; D. D. Home

The following is an excerpt from a book discussing the more famous of the spiritualist mediums of the 1800's.

D.D. Home

At the height of the spiritualist movement emerged the era's most talented physical medium, Daniel Douglas Home.  A few things separated Home from his medium colleagues.  For one thing he never insisted on holding his séances in the dark, he never balked at skeptics that would examine his sessions for fraud, he was never publicly caught or denounced for fraud, and he never accepted payment for his séances. The last point is astounding, as Home was the invited guest of the most of the royalty of Europe at one time or another. 

He reportedly conducted séances for the Czar of Russia, the king of France, the king of Naples, the queen of Holland, the king of Bavaria and the German emperor, just to name a few!  He met and married his first wife, Alexandrina de Kroll, the sister-in-law to Count Koucheleff-Besborodka while in Rome. He had Alexandre Dumas as a groomsman, and Count Alexis Tolstoy the writer and Count Bobrinsky, a chamberlain to the emperor, as invited guests to the affair.  And yet he lived most of his life on the brink of poverty, relying on the largesse of devotees, roaming from one country to another as his welcome wore out. 

Daniel Douglas Home (pronounced Hume) was of rather questionable descent.  According to a footnote in Home’s own autobiographical book Incidents in My Life (1863) his father was the “natural son” of Alexander, the tenth earl of Home, and his mother, a lass of the Highlands,  claimed to be descended from the Brahan clan descendants of Kenneth MacKenzie.  From birth, Home was said to have special powers, being able to rock his own cradle.  During his childhood, Home was considered to be of nervous disposition and poor health, and was at times not expected to live to adulthood (19).

He passed his early childhood in Portobello, Scotland, but moved at the age of nine to the U.S. when he was adopted by a childless aunt, a Mrs. McNeill Cook. He lived for a time in Greeneville, Connecticut and Troy, New York.  Reportedly he was a sensitive child with a keen memory and strong observation skills.  He had his first vision at the age of 13, when a deceased school mate named Edwin visited him in his home in Troy.  Four years would pass before his second vision when Home predicted to the hour, his mother’s death.  When strange rappings and tappings started occurring around the house, his aunt first attempted to have Home exorcised and then finally evicted from her home (19, 20). 

Aside from being able to speak with spirits via a spirit guide, he was able to produce rapping sounds on command, strange lights and spectral hands.  One ghostly hand appeared at a séance with Napolean III which was able to sign his name on a piece of paper producing the signature of Napolean I (20). Home was able to call forth music on ghostly guitars and move objects about the room.  Later he was able to elongate his body as much as 11 inches to a height of 6 ½ feet, and then to shrink to five feet while onlookers saw his shoes disappear under his trousers.  He often had onlookers hold his frame to prove that he wasn’t faking it, and he allowed those present to measure the differences, all again in a lighted room to disprove fakery (19). 

At the age of 19 he developed the ability to levitate, at first bobbing up and down a few feet off the ground before gently floating up the ceiling (21).  He later was able to hone his skills and onlookers swore that he could fly. Home swore his abilities were made possible with the aid of friendly spirits, the most frequent of which was Bryan (19). 

Home was as much loved as despised.  He was criticized as being tempermental, with bouts of anxiety and depression, and to have homosexual leanings.  He was also described as vain and somewhat simple. He disdained contact with other mediums with whom he felt he had nothing to learn.  The only medium with whom he had a friendship, ironically, was Kate Fox. His gifts were at times considered sinister.  The Italian populace found him particularly loathsome, accusing him of witch craft and sorcery.

When Alexandrina de Kroll died in 1862, the family attempted to withhold Home’s inheritance. Home was forced to wage a long legal battle, during which time he had no steady income.  He tried to become a student of sculpture, going to Rome for a time to study.  He was forced to leave the city after a somewhat extended scuffle with the Papacy who accused Home of sorcery. He them emigrated briefly to the U.S. to attempt his hand as stage orator. It is said that his recitations of Howard Brownell’s poems were well received by audiences, but he left before long to return to Europe.  Throughout his career there were at least two attempts on his life, and he took knife wounds to the abdomen and the hand.  Certainly it is hard to imagine a psychic that was as famous as infamous, as punished as rewarded for his gifts (20). 

Ill health eventually forced Home to retire. He married a second time, to a wealthy Russian widow, Julie de Gloumeline and declined public séances thereafter. He traveled for the rest of his life, dying of tuberculosis while in Auteuil ,France in 1886 (19).

During a time when skeptics were actively attempting to disprove psychic mediums, there was never any substantial evidence revealed to prove Home a fraud.  Certainly skeptics suggested trickery, often after his death when fraud could not proven one way or another, and yet some of the sharpest minds couldn’t figure out how he produced his great feats.  

He even cooperated with psychical researcher Sir William Crookes in an experiment.  Crookes could detect no foul play and announced Home’s abilities as true.  The skeptical Frank Podmore grudgingly admitted that, “Home was never publicly exposed as an imposter; there is no evidence of any weight that he was even privately detected in trickery.”  Although Podmore did not concede that Home had mediumistic abilities, he neither refuted his abilities either.  Even the great Houdini couldn’t figure out how he produced the results he did.  Whether truly a medium of outstanding abilities or a very clever conjurer is still disputed.  He remains therefore, the greatest medium of the age (19, 20).

Resources

19. Cheung, Theresa (2008). The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Hauntings. Barnes and Noble, Inc. in cooperation with Harper Collins Publishers. pps 211-214.

20. Melton, Gordon, Editor (2001).  Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology; Fifth Edition. Gale Group, Inc. Farmington Hills, MI Volume 1 A-L pps 737-740.

Experimentation with Table Tilting

By Robin M. Strom-Mackey

In the near complete darkness the sitters circle the table in anticipation; speaking in hushed tones, holding their breath. The minutes tick by. Nothing happens. And then…a series of three quick raps are heard. Someone knocking at the house next door, perhaps? But as they come to this decision they feel it; at first a small shudder skittering across the table top. Then the legs of the table seem to jump and move. A collective gasp from the group, and suddenly the table literally seems to lurch below their hands….

This past-time, popularized during the spiritualist movement of the 1850’s, is referred to as table tipping (or table talking). This phenomenon, was popularized by mediums during the period, many of them charlatans who manipulated the table themselves for a paying audience. However, amateur groups soon discovered that no medium need be in attendance. Often groups of ordinary people would assemble for an evening of free entertainment; invitations sent out for a night of “tea and table tipping (Blum, 2006).“

Essentially table tilting, involved a small table that could be made to move, sliding, shuddering and in some cases levitating or moving across a space. Unexplained sounds such as knocking or rapping were sometimes heard. Table talking sessions were conducted in the near darkness of a séance type of environment, usually involving a small number of individuals who would sit around a table each resting their hands on the table - much the same way as a Ouija board planchette. The sitters were instructed to keep both hands visible on the table top and to move them as little as possible. Sessions might or might not involve a medium.

Experimenting with Table Tilting According to Troy Taylor, author and founder of the American Ghost Society, table tipping has been enjoying a resurgence of late. He notes that a tipping session can be held in a location that is not considered haunted and sitters can still experience phenomenon (Taylor, 2007). That’s because the phenomenon is considered to be an effect of RSPK and not the workings of a spirit. The dramatic effects of table tipping are a collective combining of RSPK. RSPK or Recurrent Spontaneous Psycho Kinesis is an ability to effect the material world with the mind. It is what is theorized to be behind poltergeist (noisy ghost) hauntings, which are created through RSPK of a living agent, usually unconsciously, and not a ghost or spirit. (SPI, 2012).

British psychologist and member of the SPR, Kenneth J. Batchehelder was the first to suggest RSPK as the agent behind table tipping phenomenon. He designed an experiment using table tipping to measure RSPK. Batchelder believed that the heightened sense of expectation, an atmosphere conducive to table tilting, and the group’s collective belief in the success of the experiment created an energy sufficient to effect an agent - in this case directed at a table - creating anomalous noises and movements (Karl, 2007).

Click the link to watch a short video of Kenneth Batcheder demonstrate and explain table tipping. Sadly this historic clip has been poorly preserved

Taylor suggests that groups of individuals can experiment with table tipping with a reasonable assurance of success. The optimum size for a table-tipping group is four to five individuals. Table tipping rarely occurs at the first session, so make sure that the location and the group members will be available for multiple sessions. The group should plan to meet often and regularly - Taylor suggests one to two times a week. The group needs to be dedicated enough to sit through possibly several sessions where nothing occurs.

In the spirit of scientific investigation, the variables should be kept the same at table tipping sessions. Therefore, all the sessions should be held in the same location and with the same individuals present for each session. Do not invite onlookers, at least at the beginning. The group needs to be alone with each other in order to learn to direct their collective RSPK.

Select a table that is small and lightweight. You can usually find a cheap, small table at a second-hand store. But if you’re using Mom’s huge oak dining room table for your table tipping sessions, you’re not likely to see results any time soon! Again, the same table should be used for all sessions.

Sessions should be free of distractions. Turn off televisions, radios, put the kids to bed, turn off the ringer on the phone etc. Dim the lights to near darkness. Table tipping tends to work better in a séance like environment, probably because the mind and body are free of other distractions. A dim environment also has the added bonus of creating a rather creepy mood, which is also beneficial.

Sitting down to begin your sessions keep a calm, relaxed atmosphere. Talk normally, make jokes and try to relax. Taylor suggests that if a member or members are too uptight about making something happen, the less likely activity is likely to occur (Taylor, 2007). Make sure all members keep their hands relaxed, and in sight, on the table top at all times. When activity does begin to occur, it is easy for members to move their hands unconsciously.

Invariably someone in the group may become bored or over-anxious and may desire to shake things up a bit by experimenting. Taylor suggests that only one variable be changed at any one session (Taylor, 2007). For example, if you desire to bring in a new member, don’t also change the location. If you try a different location keep the same table and all the same members.

Video taping all the sessions is suggested. Use a video camera with an IR setting. If you don’t have such a camera available, IR adapters can be purchased from many electronics stores for very little money. Make sure the video camera is set on the widest shot available, use a tripod or other stable device. It is best, of course, to have all of the group members and the table is in the shot at all times, so that any cheating (i.e. members moving the table on their own) is detectable. It will also provide proof of any occurring phenomenon. You can also track the increase or changes in phenomenon over time. You may also want to keep an audio track recording on the session as well.

That is not to say that cheating is altogether a bad thing. Taylor notes that often faking something can induce real activity to begin. “In one experiment, a sitter experimented with this and found that he was able to induce real rapping’s after he faked rapping noises or moved the table. He was never seen doing this as the sessions were held in near darkness (Taylor, 2007).” Taylor speculates that the reason faking can help is because most people have an inherent disbelief in the existence of psi. This disbelief may be buried deeply within the unconscious, but he admits it is almost always there. “Faking it” seems to trick the conscience into believing that it can happen, and then the mind is free to channel without the block of disbelief.

Even though table tipping sessions are an experiment of RSPK versus actually trying to contact a spirit, still such experiments can be beneficial for paranormal investigators. Taylor notes, experimenting with table tipping can give paranormal investigators a better understanding of what to expect should they come across an investigation involving poltergeist style activity.

Table Tipping at a Ghost Hunt

Obviously table tipping can be attempted at locations that are thought to have paranormal activity. Taylor suggests if a group attempts a table tipping session at a suspected haunted location that the group use the parameters above with some additional caveats.

The group may elect to include a medium into the session as well. If so, only use one as a control for the group. Also, when selecting group members avoid those who are openly or brazenly skeptical. Those “goats” in the group can block the activity with their disbelief.

For an investigation session the group will want to monitor with more devices than simply a video camera. Taylor suggests setting up at least two video cameras, an audio recorder, at least one if not several EMF detectors (Trifield Natural EMF detectors suggested) which can be set up around the outside of the circle to monitor changes. Stationary temperature gauges and humidity gauges should also be set up and monitored. In addition Taylor suggests having one to two individuals take photographs throughout the session and another take notes of anything that occurs during the session. This is in addition to the 4 or 5 individuals needed for the circle.

The session itself may be conducted differently. The group may elect to hold a type of EVP session with questions asked and answers encouraged. Or, if a medium is present, a type of medium-type contact may be used. This type of experiment, Taylor notes, makes any solid, verifiable evidence difficult. However, all the equipment should be monitored closely during the session and any changes notated carefully.

Resources

Blum, Deborah (2006) Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death. Penguin Books. New York, New York.

Karl, Jason (2007) An Illustrated History of the Haunted World. Barnes and Noble, New York, New York.

Society for Paranormal Investigation (SPI) Retrieved via world wide web June 10, 2012 at

http://www.paranormalghost.com/rspk.htm

Taylor, Troy (2007) Ghost Hunter’s Guidebook: The Essential Guide to Investigating Ghosts and Hauntings. Whitechapel Press. Decatur, Illinois.