Adrian Conan Doyle on his father's belief in Spiritualism

Arthur Conan Doyle Interviewed on Sherlock Holmes and Spirituality

 This movie was shot in October 1928, for Movietone News in Conan Doyle's garden at his Windlesham estate with his Irish terrier, Paddy. [Source: "The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle" by Russell Miller, 2008, Thomas Dunne Books, imprint of St. Martin's Press; ISBN-13: 978-1-61523-180-5]

a son speaks about his father : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle visited Australia and spoke at the Enmore Spiritualist Church in 1921. He gave his farewell address at the Church and thanked the congregation for the warm reception he had received from Spiritualists in Australia, despite also finding demonstrators outside his public meetings, demanding he be deported !

Recently we sadly discovered that the handwritten and signed speech written by Sir Arthur was stolen from the Church files during a break-in in 2010. Here is Adrian Conan Doyle talking about his father's beliefs:

"Let's get physical ... or did we?" & Arthur Conan Doyle

## Important : Today at approx 5pm onwards on 702 ABC Sydney is a radio program about the great Spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his visit in 1920/21 to Australia to give talks on Spiritualism .

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"Let's get physical ... or did we?"

 Last night, I either witnessed a remarkable display of physical mediumship by David Thompson, a Brit who now resides in Australia and who claims to produce full-form materialisations, or a blatant deception that is succeeding in fooling many otherwise sensible people. So which was it?

The only way to make up one's mind in such a situation – in which the 40-plus people attending this séance at Jenny's Sanctuary in Oxfordshire were literally in the dark – is to examine both scenarios and ask which, logically, makes the most sense. That's what I'm about to do, in the hope that the views of visitors to this Blog may also contribute some useful insight

READ THE FULL STORY AT ROY STEMMAN'S PARANORMAL REVIEW.

The History of Spiritualism by Arthur Conan Doyle

In 1921 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the famous Sherlock Holmes books , toured Australia giving talks on Spiritualism of which he was a devotee.

He gave his farewell speech at the Enmore Spiritualist Church after attending a service there.

The Gutenberg Project has a free e-book by Sir Arthur :

The History of Spiritualism Vol II (1926)

which can be downloaded for free here:

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301061.txt 

"THE CAREER OF EUSAPIA PALLADINO The mediumship of Eusapia Palladino marks an important stage in the history of psychical research, because she was the first medium for physical phenomena to be examined by a large number of eminent men of science. The chief manifestations that occurred with her were the movement of objects without contact, the levitation of a table and other objects, the levitation of the medium, the appearance of materialized hands and faces, lights, and the playing of musical instruments without human contact. All these phenomena took place, as we have seen, at a much earlier date with the medium D. D. Home, but when Sir William Crookes invited his scientific brethren to come and examine them they declined. Now for the first time these strange facts were the subject of prolonged investigation by men of European reputation. Needless to say, these experimenters were at first sceptical in the highest degree, and so-called "tests" (those often silly precautions which may defeat the very object aimed at) were the order of the day. No medium in the whole world has been more rigidly tested than this one, and since she was able to convince the vast majority of her sitters, it is clear that her mediumship was of no ordinary type. It is little use pointing out that no psychic researcher should be admitted to the seance room without at least some elementary knowledge of the complexities of mediumship and the right conditions for its unfoldment, or without, for instance, an understanding of the basic truth that it is not the medium alone, but the sitters equally, who are factors in the success of the experiment. Not one scientific man in a thousand recognizes this, and the fact that Eusapia triumphed in spite of such a tremendous handicap is an eloquent tribute to her powers."

The Enduring Arthur Conan Doyle

No author n modern history has been as popular as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who created Sherlock Holmes. Every decade there is either a new feature film or TV series based upon his works.

Sir Arthur is one of the most well know Spiritualist and he wrotes books on the subject some of which can be accessed for free here :
http://www.spiritwritings.com/doylecitations.html
Here is the first part of an amateur film about him titled :No Place Like Holmes: The Reluctant Spiritualist

Google doodle celebrates magician Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts. He was also a skeptic who set out to expose frauds purporting to be supernatural phenomena.

Harry Houdini was born as Erik Weisz (he later spelled his birth name as Ehrich Weiss) in Budapest, Hungary, on March 24, 1874.[1] From 1907 on, however, Houdini would claim in interviews to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin, on April 6, 1874.


His parents were Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss (1829–1892) and his wife, Cecelia (née Steiner; 1841–1913). Houdini was one of seven children.
Weiss came to the United States on July 3, 1878, sailing on the SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four brothers.[3] The family changed the Hungarian spelling of their German surname into Weiss (the German spelling) and the spelling of their son's name into Ehrich. Friends called him "Ehrie" or "Harry".

Houdini began his magic career in 1891.[6] At the outset, he had little success. He performed in dime museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "The Wild Man" at a circus. Houdini focused initially on traditional card tricks. At one point, he billed himself as the "King of Cards". But he soon began experimenting with escape acts.


Debunking spiritualists :

Houdini demonstrates how a photographer could produce fraudulent "spirit photographs" that documented the apparition and social interaction of deceased individuals[33]In the 1920s, after the death of his mother, Cecelia, he turned his energies toward debunking self-proclaimed psychics and mediums, a pursuit that would inspire and be followed by later-day conjurers. Houdini's training in magic allowed him to expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. None were able to do so, and the prize was never collected. The first to be tested was medium George Valentine of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. As his fame as a "ghostbuster" grew, Houdini took to attending séances in disguise, accompanied by a reporter and police officer. Possibly the most famous medium whom he debunked was Mina Crandon, also known as "Margery".

Houdini chronicled his debunking exploits in his book, A Magician Among the Spirits. These activities cost Houdini the friendship of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle, a firm believer in Spiritualism during his later years, refused to believe any of Houdini's exposés. Doyle came to believe that Houdini was a powerful spiritualist medium, had performed many of his stunts by means of paranormal abilities and was using these abilities to block those of other mediums that he was 'debunking' (see Conan Doyle's The Edge of The Unknown, published in 1931). This disagreement led to the two men becoming public antagonists.[citation needed]

Before Houdini died, he and his wife, Bess, agreed that if Houdini's spirit came back to earth, he would utter "Rosabelle believe" as a secret codeword to prove that it was actually him. This was a phrase from a play that Bess performed in when the couple first met. Bess held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years after Houdini's death, but Houdini's spirit never appeared. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful séance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, she put out the candle that she had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death, later saying in 1943 that "ten years is long enough to wait for any man." The tradition of holding a séance for Houdini continues by magicians throughout the world to this day; the Official Houdini Séance is currently organized by Sidney Hollis Radner, a Houdini aficionado from upstate New York.[34] Yearly Houdini Séances are also conducted in Chicago at the Excaliber nightclub by "necromancer" Neil Tobin on behalf of the Chicago Assembly of the Society of American Magicians;[35] and at the Houdini Museum in Scranton by magician Dorothy Dietrich who previously held them at New York's famous Magic Towne House with such magical notables as Houdini biographers Walter B. Gibson and Milbourne Christopher. Gibson was asked by Bess Houdini to carry on the tradition. Before he died, Walter passed on the tradition to Dorothy Dietrich.

Read more at Wikpedia

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the Enmore Spiritualist Church

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the world's foremost proponents and believers of Spiritualism. He was also the author of some of the most enduring books in modern history-the tales of Sherlock Holmes.

In 1921 Sir Arthur visited and toured Australia. He gave his farewell speech to an audience of members of the then Enmore Spiritualist Church.

In future posts we will bring you the text of his speech. Here is an interview with Sir Arthur :

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited Australia in 1921 and gave his farwell address at the Enmore and Stanmore United Spiritualist Church which eventually became the Enmore Spiritualist Church.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was called the "St. Paul" of Spiritualism. He was a prolific writer on the subject and an avid proponent. And, of course, he is renowned for his Sherlock Holmes stories.

Sir Arthur's introduction to the occult took place while he was a physician at Southsea, United Kingdom. During the years 1885 to 1888, he was invited to participate in table turning sittings at the home of one of his patients, General Drayson, a teacher at the Greenwich Naval College. The medium was a railway signalman, and some amazing phenomena and apportations took place.

The phenomena were, quite frankly, too amazing for Sir Arthur, and he underrated both the honesty of the medium and the intelligence of the sitters. Nonetheless, his interest was aroused.

Shortly thereafter, he joined the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and carried out a series of experiments with a Mrs. Ball. From these experiments, Sir Arthur was convinced that telepathy was genuine. As far as survival and mediumship were concerned, in 1902, when he first met Sir Oliver Lodge, he had not arrived at any definite conclusions. However, Myers' classic, Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, made a deep impression upon him.

For nearly 30 years, Sir Arthur continued his studies and investigations. Finally, at the peak of his literary career, at approximately the age of 58, he took a decisive step and wrote The New Revelation and The Vital Message. In these books, he firmly associated himself with the cause of Modern Spiritualism.

His critics -- and there were many -- attributed his newly found faith to bereavement suffered during the war; he vehemently denied these statements. His youngest son, Kingsley, died of pneumonia during the war. A year after his son's death, he attended a sitting held by a Welsh medium; there, his son spoke to him. Later on, he stated: "It was his voice and he spoke of concerns unknown to the medium." Shortly after this, he saw his mother and nephew, in his words: "As plainly as I ever saw them in life!" The cynic would call his jump into Spiritualism nothing more than a manifestation of grief. The clear-headed thinker would see this as an answer to his prayers and worries. Thank God for us all that Sir Arthur was a clear-headed thinker.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most substantive book on Spiritualism is the two-volume set, The History of Spiritualism. This is an absolute must-read for all students of the subject. Within its pages, he discusses a wide range of subjects and personalities linked with the Modern Spiritualist Movement, both in America and the United Kingdom.

Addressing the remarks of his critics, he writes in The History of Spiritualism the following:

"The sight of the world which was distraught with sorrow and which was eagerly asking for help and knowledge, did certainly affect my mind and cause me to understand that these psychic studies, which I had so long pursued, were of immense practical importance and could no longer be regarded as a mere intellectual hobby or fascinating pursuit of a novel research. It was this realization which, from early in 1916, caused me and my wife to devote ourselves largely to this subject, to lecture upon it in many countries, and to travel to Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada upon missions of instruction."

Further on, he declared:

"As for the charge of credulity which is invariable directed by the unreceptive against anyone who forms a positive opinion upon this subject, I can solemnly aver that in the course of my long career as an investigator, I cannot recall one single case where it was clearly shown that I had been mistaken upon any serious point, or had given a certificate of honesty to a performance which was afterwards clearly proved to be dishonest. A man who is credulous does not take twenty years of reading and experiment before he comes to his fixed conclusions."

We cringe at Sir Arthur's use of the word performance; however, this statement bears great weight upon his support for the cause.

He began his mission in 1918, with visits to most of the major cities of Great Britain. Then, during 1920 and 1921, he visited Australia and New Zealand. Early in 1922, he went to America and toured the Eastern states; the following year, he traveled as far as California. In 1928, he left for South Africa, and in the autumn of that same year, he preached Spiritualism in the Northern countries of Europe.

Let it not be said that his promulgation of Spiritualism did not come without a price. He expended a tremendous amount of physical and emotional energy. Furthermore, it is estimated that the decline in his literary output, because of his devotion to Spiritualism, translated into a loss of approximately £200,000, an amazing amount of money for the time.

Sir Arthur was not exempt from professional conflicts either. During 1922, when the Society for Psychical Research was invloved in a scandal surrounding spirit photographer, William Hope, Sir Arthur stood up valiantly in defense of Mr. Hope. This caused a riff between him and the prestigious S.P.R. His association with the S.P.R. was further antagonized by Theodore Besterman's review of Mrs. Hack's Modern Miracles at Millesimo Castle. Finally, believing that the honor of Ernesto Bozzano, investigator of the famous Italian medium, Eusapia Paladino, and a close friend, was compromised by the Society, Sir Arthur resigned his membership. This resignation widened the already growing gulf between Spiritualists of the day and psychic researchers. This caused many Spiritualists to resign their membership to the S.P.R.

At the International Spiritualist Congress, held in Paris, in 1925, Sir Arthur was nominated Honorary President. In the same year, he had a public discussion, in London, with Sir Arthur Keith on Spiritualism. He won many points during this public debate.

It was during Sir Arthur's Presidency of the London Spiritualist Alliance that Mrs. Cantlon, one of the mediums sanctioned by the Alliance, was charged with fortune-telling (quite illegal at the time). When the Alliance was assessed with costs amounting to £800, he voiced a vigorous protest in The London Times, alleging that this was nothing more than an organized persecution of Spiritualists. He, then, started a drive for the modification of the Fortune Telling Act; and, on July 1, 1930, he led a petition to Council. Six days later, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle passed to Spirit.

True to his ways, even death did not silence him. On July 13, 1930, a large reunion was held in Albert Hall, London. A chair was left empty in honor of Sir Arthur. Estelle Roberts, one of England's finest and most respected mediums, said that she saw clairvoyantly Conan Doyle in the chair and offered a personal message from the great writer to his family; they accepted the message as evidential.

Since then -- and, unfortunately, as is the case amongst so many Spiritualists -- numerous mediums, on both sides of the Atlantic, claim to have given spirit messages from Sir Arthur. Most were simply the renderings of psychic spot-lighters. However, one communication was very evidential, very revealing, and quite noteworthy. In fact, it so impressed psychic researcher and officer of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR), Harry Price, that he discussed the communication in the January, 1931, issue of the Nash Magazine, under the title of "The Return of Conan Doyle." The medium who had given this communication was the prestigious Eileen J. Garrett.

In an address before members of the London Spiritualist Alliance, in October, 1931, Sir Oliver Lodge (author of the Raymond series) best summed up Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's views and approach to Spiritualism and Spiritualist phenomena as follows:

"His methods are not mine, he regarded himself as a missionary, a trustee of a great truth which he felt bound to with others, whether they would receive it or whether they would reject and ridicule it, but one cannot but admire the completeness and self-sacrificing character of his life and doctrines. Occasionally, I think, he lacked the wisdom of the serpent, but the goodness of his motives must be manifest to all."

Truer words could not be echoed regarding this remarkable figure in the history of Modern Spiritualism.

A lovely Obituary Note was written by Dr. L.R.G. Crandon, husband of Boston's famous physical medium, Margery Crandon, in the August, 1930, issue of Psychic Research, the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. Further on, in that same issue, researcher Harry Price, wrote the following:

"The passing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at 9:15 a.m. on July 7th, 1930 removes the greatest personality spiritualism ever possessed -- or is ever likely to possess. By sheer personal determination he raised the subject of psychic phenomena into the arena of acute controversy -- and kept it there."

Dr. Crandon, who, with his wife, Margery, had become very close friends and associates with Sir Arthur and Lady Doyle, gave a most touching tribute in the Obituary Note referenced above. He wrote:

"On Monday, July 7, 1930, the world of literature, story telling, happy-home living, and the world of Spiritualism lost a leader. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has passed over.

"So many will write obituaries of him in general terms that it will be perhaps of value for us to write of him in a more personal way.

"The Margery Group has lost a tireless champion. From the first Sir Arthur's big Celtic heart has appreciated Margery's work and has fought for it whenever challenged."

He ended his tribute with the following:

"July 7, 1930, the day of his going over, the Margery Group held a seance, and, for the first time in over three years, Walter did not come through. A perfectly reasonable (not evidential) explanation was given by Mark, one of Walter's helpers, who manifested himself at this sitting. He said, in effect: 'Walter is busy as one of a reception committee to a great Spirit, newly arrived.'

"And so he has passed for a time, serving in a new sphere, we have no doubt, and immortal in our hearts, we are sure."

Books written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, other than the Sherlock Holmes series, include:

The New Revelation, 1918;
The Vital Message, 1919;
Wanderings of a Spiritualist, 1921;
The Coming of the Fairies, 1922;
Our American Adventure, 1923;
Our Second American Adventure, 1923;
Memories and Adventures, 1924;
Spiritualists' Readers, 1924;
The Land of Mist, 1926;
History of Spiritualism, 1926;
The Case for Spirit Photography, 1924;
Pheneas Speaks, 1927;
Our African Winter, 1929;
The Edge of the Unknown, 1930.

Spiritualism photographs

GHOST PHOTO BY WILLIAM HOPE

The spirit photos you can view here are taken from a collection of some 500 glass slides which a Spiritualist Minister, Mr Alan Millichamp, holds in trust. The commentary is by my good friend Vi Kipling with a few additional comments added by myself. (Craig Hamilton-Parker)

view more photos at http://www.spiritualists.org/

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Ghost