Charles Bailey Born in 1870 in Melbourne, Bailey became a World famous apport medium who was later exposed as fraudulent. His loyal following, however, stuck with him until he passed away. In 1889, Bailey who was a bootmaker at the time attended his first seance where he was told that he had abilities of his very own and he began his work with mediumship as a part-time professional medium. In 1902, his work was highlighted in William Terry’s publication Harbinger of Light intriguing the world with his ability to apparently summon items from thin air, otherwise known as apports. Famous spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was particularly fascinated with Bailey’s abilities producing coins through to live birds and even a live shovel nose shark measuring 18 inches long. For a period of time, Bailey was the personal medium to Melbourne millionaire Thomas Welton Stanford, who made a collection of the apports Bailey produced which is now preserved at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. While figures such as Doyle were initially impressed by his abilities, Bailey would later be exposed as a fraud finding that one of his controls was responsible for bringing in the apports which would later ‘appear’. Even after being exposed with figures such as Harry Price outing the claims, Bailey was still practicing up until 1930 where he still had a small, devoted following. Bailey passed away in 1947 and remains the most controversially famous apport medium in the World.
A.J Abbott A.J Abbott (Albert James) was a selfproclaimed spiritualist from Melbourne Australia. Well, he was really born in Devonshire England in 1856. His family moved to New Zealand and then to Melbourne Australia where he became the pastor of the Free Christian Assembly in Melbourne. As many were in the early 19th century, Abbott became fascinated with spirit photography. In 1910, he gave lectures to an intrigued
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audience about seances, spiritualism with a presentation projecting images of spirit photography onto a white screen using glass slides. The images were copied from a book by famous spiritualist medium and artist Georgiana Houghton in 1882, which included photographs by many spirit photographers that were later exposed as frauds. The full collection of AJ Abbott’s slides is on display at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in Canberra, a building that many claim is haunted itself due to its previous life as a morgue and the Australian Institute of Anatomy where it held human remains. The collection covers many areas of spiritualism and is not just limited to spirit photography.
Richard Hodgson Born in 1855 in Melbourne Australia, he originally intended to work in the field of law. After graduating from the University of Melbourne, his interest in philosophy and the very concept of the paranormal led him to be introduced by a fellow student into spiritualist literature where he eventually found his way to his first séance. He travelled to the UK where he studied at St John’s College in Cambridge. It was there he met Henry Sidgwick (who would become one of the founding members of The Society for Psychical Research) and studied philosophy under his guide. In 1882, he joined the Cambridge Society for Psychical Research where he was involved in investigating the claims of mediums as well as exposing some of the fraudulent activity. In 1887, he became the secretary of the American Society for Psychical Research. It was here he was introduced to the infamous Leonora Piper. She was a popular trance medium that Hodgson became fascinated with. The information given in the sessions he conducted with Piper were so specific and convincing to Hodgson, that he felt it was proof of survival after death and changed his outlook on life completely. Not long before his death, he was quoted as saying “I “I can hardly wait to die” die” and 6 months later on December 20th, 1905, he suffered heart failure while he was playing a game of handball. Of course, Hodgson had long promised colleagues he would be back for a visit which were said to have been communicated through the famous Leonora Piper. The evidence, however, was deemed inconclusive and the sessions ceased.
HAUNTED MAGAZINE
Sarah
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