Daniel Dunglas Home
Most of his/her séances were given in houses he had never entered before, in rooms he had never seen, frequently in broad daylight. He scorned the use of a curtained alcove or (perhaps) (perhaps) ‘cabinet’ demanded by most mediums of the day. He would enter a room modestly, dressed in elegant clothes that fitted his/her slender body like a glove so that his/her audience could see that he had no gadgetry to assist him, no room for concealment. He never took payment in money but stayed as a guest in great style at some of the most splendid houses and happily approved rare and expensive gifts.
Daniel Dunglas Home
Daniel Dunglas Home was born in Currie, a village near Edinburgh, on March 20, 1833. His father, William, an engineer, proclaimed to be the illegitimate son of the 10th Earl of Home, so on the paternal side the medium was connected with 1 of the most ancient and noble Border houses. His mother, Elizabeth, was said to have 2nd sight. 1 of 8 children, Daniel was a nervous, delicate child, probably
already prone to the tuberculosis that was to affect his/her health all athrough his/her life. He was adopted at an early stage by a childless aunt
who took him to live with her/his and her/his husband in the state of Connecticut in the United States.
Visions and apparitions, mostly connected with the death of buddies or (perhaps) (perhaps) relatives, were part of his/her adolescence. His aunt was not sympathetic when loud knocks and raps shook the family breakfast table as he took his/her seat. Nor was she/he really pleased when her/his best furniture began to move about mysteriously. He was just seventeen when an exceptionally distressing outbreak of poltergeist and telekinetic phenomena frustrated her/his so badly that she/he threw him out of the house. He took refuge with, buddies who were prepared to be more understanding.
In the early 1850s, when a tidal flood of spiritualism was sweeping through America, Home began to give his/her 1st séances. With his/her grey eyes, auburn hair and pale complexion, he was such an attractive figure that he was soon being approved -usually through the influence of wives -into the homes of wealthy farmers, prosperous merchants, doctors, editors, and liberal clergyman. His discussion was amusing,
his manners charming. He became a perpetual houseguest whose expenses were paid and whose needs were fully met by his/her sponsors.
He made it clear, however, that he could only produce phenomena when the spirits moved him.
Home levitated for the 1st time in August 1852, when he was nineteen. It happened at the home of a wealthy silk merchant called Ward Cheney in South Manchester, Connecticut. Among the guests was a journalist called Frank Burr, editor of the Hartford Times, a fascinated observer but a sceptic. Afterwards he described what happened:’Suddenly, with out any expectation on the part of the company, Home was taken up into the air. At 1st his/her ft (feet) were only about a foot from the floor, but it happened twice more and the 3rd time he was carried to the ceiling of the apartment with which his/her head
and hands came in gentle contact. He was gasping and shaking as he rose.’
Home usually, though not invariably, went into a trance at his/her seances. It was in Boston that his/her powers all of a sudden developed to full fruition and individuals began travelling 100s of miles to see him.
Complete figures began to materialize, spirit hands which wrote msgs (messages) and voices which could be recognized. Individuals clamoured for more phenomena of this nature but Home’s delicate constitution wasbeginning to feel the strain, and his/her doctors advised him to go to England, where the climate tended to less extremes than in America.
He sailed for England in March 1855, and within a few weeks had located supporters of the highest social standing. Without them he would have been penniless. Those who assembled to watch him were not all devoted believers; the majority were guys and ladies of the world, prepared to admit their profound scepticism when they 1st met him.…more…Part-3…