sgrenard
03-17-2002, 09:47 AM
Materialised Figures Appear at Home Circle
Psychic News, No. 2646 Saturday, February 26, 1983
SOLID spirit forms, an experienced Spiritualist told PN last week, are being obtained at Rita Goold's Leicester home circle.
Spiritualist Alan Crossley testified that one figure appeared in
"a beautiful lace dress." Another manifested in "a complete
military uniform."
Mr Crossley was also reunited with his wife, who passed four
years ago. In addition he stated his belief that one of the main
communicators is martyred physical medium Helen Duncan. She
"reminisced several incidents that were known only to me and
herself." He heard her "familiar voice again."
Alan sat with Rita, her husband Steve, and circle members Pat and
Barry Jefferys on seven consecutive nights.
"It was one of the most momentous occasions of my life", he said.
"After 40 years' or so experience in psychic matters,
particularly physical mediumship, and I have sat with the finest
mediums this century, the events now unfolding at Leicester are
not matched by anything I have seen before."
Alan, author of "The Life of Helen Duncan", witnessed a plethora
of physical phenomena including direct voice, levitation,
apports, and "above all the materialisation of human forms of
those who have passed from this earth".
"In my opinion, they offer the greatest challenge so far to
science, the Church and other academic bodies throughout the
world in establishing once and for all the efficacy of spirit
communication with those on earth."
For Mr Crossley the events at Leicester herald a new departure in
spirit communication, not least because of the setting.
"Gone are the cabinets, black draperies and semi-religious
trappings," he explained. "The sittings are notable for their
informality. From my point of view, the new methods and
techniques used by the spirit operators mark the greatest turning
point in psychic history. Void of all mystique, there is none of
the spooky atmosphere so common in former years."
Describing the diversity of phenomena, Mr Crossley added:
"I have never before witnessed direct voice so loud and clear and
sustained for such long periods as at Rita Goold's sittings. I
saw manipulation of objects and their levitation at speeds which
are quite amazing, plus the production of apports."
But it is the materialisations which Alan Crossley feels are a
new breakthrough in contact between the two worlds.
"The forms are clothed not in ectoplasm as was usual in the past,
but with fabricated material actually created by the spirit
operators," he testified.
"They range from a beautiful lace dress - worn by Laura Lorraine,
Rita Goold's grandmother, a regular communicator through the
circle - to a complete military uniform, worn by Sir Oliver
Lodge's son, Raymond."
The absence of ectoplasm in evolving materialisations is seen by
Mr Crossley as a new development in mediumship.
"There are many features concerning the new phenomena which
clearly distinguish them from all previous methods," he said.
"This shift away from old techniques can only help rather then
hinder progress towards a better understanding of the whole
subject. The question many will ask is: 'How do they do it?' That
is, of course, too complex a question at this stage and one that
has not so far been revealed."
A particularly poignant part of Alan Crossley's week was talking
once more to Helen Duncan, a regular communicator through the circle.
"I knew Helen Duncan well," he said, "and sat in her séances on
several occasions. My book was written primarily to vindicate her
from the persistent slander and gossip which carried on long
after she passed. My talks with her at Leicester where she
reminisced to me several incidents that were known only to me and
herself strengthened my conviction, as well as hearing the
familiar voice again, it was indeed Helen Duncan."
After her trial at the Old Bailey in 1944 under the Witchcraft
Act, the law was changed to enable Spiritualists and mediums to
practise without the threat of prosecution.
"Now," said Mr Crossley, "she comes back in determined mood to
launch the greatest breakthrough the world has ever seen. "It is
over 20 years since Helen passed, but here she is, fighting to
prove there is no real death. I spoke to Helen frequently during
my stay in Leicester. She has left me in no doubt she means
business. Helen realises the die is cast, and backed by the most
powerful spirit forces now aims to put the scene right. I
witnessed the power of these forces and can testify to their
sheer intelligence, skill of operation and above all, the
evidential nature of the communicators."
Mr Crossley was reunited with his wife during the Leicester
séances. He testified:
"The ultimate in personal experiences came when my wife Irene,
who passed four years ago, manifested to me on no less than four
occasions with individual mannerisms and characteristics so
familiar to me. With her final visit she brought a single red
rose and kissed me. Well, what can one say in the light of such
happenings, except that it was not only very moving, but the most
wonderful experience of my life."
Mr Crossley discussed the repercussions of what he experienced in
Leicester.
"This timely emergence of a form of mediumship so very different
from the past clearly indicates an elaborate spiritual plan with
far-reaching implications," he said. "My week at Leicester leads
me to feel a great leap forward has begun so far as spirit
communication is concerned. "I believe that those included in
what is known as the outer circle from the Other Side are paving
the way toward the most spectacular scenario to burst upon the
psychic scene. Make no mistake, to underrate the implications
they pose would be the greatest folly. An opportunity has arisen
where the way is wide open to give the world renewed certainty of
the fact that the human personality survives so-called death and
above all can, under suitable conditions, communicate between the
two worlds."
For investigators Mr Crossley had these words:
"I should warn researchers and so-called experts who have any
ideas of resorting to the old tactics of trussing up mediums,
gagging them or subjecting them to indignities of any kind, think
again. Throttling a medium is like killing the goose that lays
the golden eggs. Those days have gone. The evidence of mediumship
will stand or fall on its merits. If one is endowed with normal
faculties of observation and intelligence, this should suffice."
Rita Goold told PN last week that intimations of her mediumship
were apparent years before she discovered it herself.
"It developed over a number of years," she said, "but everywhere
we lived we have had the sensation we were living in haunted
premises. A lot of odd things happened. We began to ask, 'Why
does it follow us around?' But apparently it was me. It has all
occurred in gradual stages over the last three years. I am a
little apprehensive about where it is all going to lead.
Sometimes I ask myself the question, 'Why me?' It has changed my
life, job and career-wise. Sometimes I wonder what the spirit
world expects of me and whether I can live up to it."
I asked Rita about the new developments and why ectoplasm was
unnecessary to produce materialisations.
"The full forms are there in the room," she said. "In the past
the cabinet, red light and ectoplasm were necessary, but now our
people have said that the whole room is a black cabinet, sealed
off in the dark.
"They work from luminous light in the room, but they are now
developing a way by which they can come with their own light. So
we can now see outlines of figures. Three or four hands have been
showing up in the light. The best way I can describe it is that
it looks as if moonlight is shining on them."
Considering the rapid speed of development, I asked Rita if the
outer circle had given any indication of their ultimate intentions.
"Helen has said we will eventually be able to see them all in the
room," Rita explained. In the past communicators said: 'One day
you will get table levitation. One day you will be able to touch
us. These things have all happened. There is no reason to believe
that everything will not come true. The circle's communicators
"are determined to prove an afterlife if it is the last thing they do."
Rita stressed that money has no place in her mediumship.
"It is my mother"
"I am not a professional medium," she stated. "I do not make a
living from it. It is not a thing one should pay for. It is not a
secret home circle and has not been private for the last year. We
have sat all over England in a home environment. People from all
over England come to us. We sit three to four times a week.
Strangers come through friends and relations."
PN assistant editor Alan Cleaver has been fortunate to visit the
Leicester circle several times, often at crucial stages in its
development. Alan attended a séance when Helen Duncan's daughter,
Gena Brealey, of Luton, Beds, visited the circle to confirm or
deny it was her mother communicating. Within minutes she knew.
Helen apported to her daughter a single red rose. This had a
special significance known only to the two of them. When she was
given the rose, Gena broke down in tears of joy and cried,
"What greater proof could I have?"
For more than an hour mother and daughter spoke to each other
about intimate details only they knew, often using Scottish slang
they then had to "translate" to the other sitters. Afterwards
Gena declared:
"Yes, it is my mother. There is no doubt about it."
Alan has also been present when other people spoke to their
"dead" relatives at the circle. All have been satisfied beyond
doubt with the contact. On one occasion Alan spoke briefly with a
voice claiming to be his "dead" grandmother. Although the link
was too short to be utterly conclusive she did ask about
"Martin." Nobody else in the séance room knew who Martin was. In
fact, it is Alan's elder brother.
"In my opinion, he is the one Gran was most likely to ask about
since they were very close," said Alan.
An outstanding feature of the communicators at Leicester is their
intelligence, particularly that of Raymond Lodge. When Raymond
first communicated with his father in the 1920s - and indeed when
he was alive - he loved cryptic clues. It is clear he is still
keen on using these. As the members of the outer circle first
began to make themselves known to the group they used cryptic
clues for their names. Eventually one of the clues spelt out the
name Raymond Lodge. All Rita and the others knew of Raymond was
that he was the son of scientist Sir Oliver Lodge. When they
asked him for evidence of who he was he replied,
"You have had all the proof you need already."
The sitters did not understand this until Rita managed to obtain
a copy of "Raymond" by Sir Oliver, a book in which he details the
life and afterlife of his son. In it, Rita discovered Raymond
loved to use the same type of cryptic clues they had themselves
been receiving for some weeks. At a séance on August 6 1982 the
circle received a clue concerning a new outer circle member. It read:
"Good King, Hal is not in hot water, the first verb. You are not
in a rut. Then quietly go west with a visionary aid. The Russian
head has two capitals. He who hesitates is lost."
This was particularly clever because the phrase "he who hesitates
is lost" had been shouted at Rita by her "dead" father when she
was in a car heading for an accident. Rita swerved on to the
grass verge on clairaudiently hearing the message - and narrowly
missed the car heading towards her. It only took a few minutes
for Rita and the others to work this clue out. Some have taken
several hours. Hot water means the letter "H." According to the
clue King Hal is not in it; so you end up with "al". The first
verb is "be" from "to be." "You are not in a rut," was also
solved. Take the 'u' (you) out of rut and you have "rt". Hence
the first name is Al/be/rt". Then "quietly" is "Shh." Go West is
"W". "With a visionary aid", a visionary aid is an eye. The
Russian head has two capitals." A Russian head is a Tzar of which
the first two letters are "Tz". The reference to "he who
hesitates is lost" is well known in crossword clues where
hesitates means "er". Hence the second name is "Shh/w/eye/tz/er,"
or more correctly "Schweitzer." So number eight in the outer
circle was revealed as Albert Schweitzer, the missionary surgeon
and founder of the famous Lambarene Hospital in Africa.
Alan was also present at one of the first séances when sitters
were allowed to see and touch a hand. The séance trumpet - an
aluminium cone with a luminous strip at each end - was brightened
as much as possible. At first all that could be seen was the
silhouette of a hand and what seemed like black lines.
"Then I saw the hand properly for the first time," Alan recalled.
"The hand was smaller than a human one, probably five inches in
length, and looked as smooth as porcelain. It had no nails and no
bone joints. It was thinner than a 'normal' hand. Perhaps the
best description of it is as a hand without the bones. We were
shown it moving its fingers and wriggling about quite freely. At
one point the whole arm appeared. There seemed to be no joints
even on the elbow. It was naked."
Alan was asked if he wanted to touch the hand and told to hold
his hand out back upwards. The trumpet came up to his hand to
supply the light.
"Then I felt it," said Alan, "and the others saw my hand being
stroked. The hand felt hot and clammy with an almost sticky
quality to it. It stroked me for maybe 40 to 45 seconds. It then
stroked Pat and Barry's hands."
Alan has since visited the circle and the hands are more formed.
He has felt the bones of the hands and the varying size of different ones.
Psychic News, No. 2646 Saturday, February 26, 1983
SOLID spirit forms, an experienced Spiritualist told PN last week, are being obtained at Rita Goold's Leicester home circle.
Spiritualist Alan Crossley testified that one figure appeared in
"a beautiful lace dress." Another manifested in "a complete
military uniform."
Mr Crossley was also reunited with his wife, who passed four
years ago. In addition he stated his belief that one of the main
communicators is martyred physical medium Helen Duncan. She
"reminisced several incidents that were known only to me and
herself." He heard her "familiar voice again."
Alan sat with Rita, her husband Steve, and circle members Pat and
Barry Jefferys on seven consecutive nights.
"It was one of the most momentous occasions of my life", he said.
"After 40 years' or so experience in psychic matters,
particularly physical mediumship, and I have sat with the finest
mediums this century, the events now unfolding at Leicester are
not matched by anything I have seen before."
Alan, author of "The Life of Helen Duncan", witnessed a plethora
of physical phenomena including direct voice, levitation,
apports, and "above all the materialisation of human forms of
those who have passed from this earth".
"In my opinion, they offer the greatest challenge so far to
science, the Church and other academic bodies throughout the
world in establishing once and for all the efficacy of spirit
communication with those on earth."
For Mr Crossley the events at Leicester herald a new departure in
spirit communication, not least because of the setting.
"Gone are the cabinets, black draperies and semi-religious
trappings," he explained. "The sittings are notable for their
informality. From my point of view, the new methods and
techniques used by the spirit operators mark the greatest turning
point in psychic history. Void of all mystique, there is none of
the spooky atmosphere so common in former years."
Describing the diversity of phenomena, Mr Crossley added:
"I have never before witnessed direct voice so loud and clear and
sustained for such long periods as at Rita Goold's sittings. I
saw manipulation of objects and their levitation at speeds which
are quite amazing, plus the production of apports."
But it is the materialisations which Alan Crossley feels are a
new breakthrough in contact between the two worlds.
"The forms are clothed not in ectoplasm as was usual in the past,
but with fabricated material actually created by the spirit
operators," he testified.
"They range from a beautiful lace dress - worn by Laura Lorraine,
Rita Goold's grandmother, a regular communicator through the
circle - to a complete military uniform, worn by Sir Oliver
Lodge's son, Raymond."
The absence of ectoplasm in evolving materialisations is seen by
Mr Crossley as a new development in mediumship.
"There are many features concerning the new phenomena which
clearly distinguish them from all previous methods," he said.
"This shift away from old techniques can only help rather then
hinder progress towards a better understanding of the whole
subject. The question many will ask is: 'How do they do it?' That
is, of course, too complex a question at this stage and one that
has not so far been revealed."
A particularly poignant part of Alan Crossley's week was talking
once more to Helen Duncan, a regular communicator through the circle.
"I knew Helen Duncan well," he said, "and sat in her séances on
several occasions. My book was written primarily to vindicate her
from the persistent slander and gossip which carried on long
after she passed. My talks with her at Leicester where she
reminisced to me several incidents that were known only to me and
herself strengthened my conviction, as well as hearing the
familiar voice again, it was indeed Helen Duncan."
After her trial at the Old Bailey in 1944 under the Witchcraft
Act, the law was changed to enable Spiritualists and mediums to
practise without the threat of prosecution.
"Now," said Mr Crossley, "she comes back in determined mood to
launch the greatest breakthrough the world has ever seen. "It is
over 20 years since Helen passed, but here she is, fighting to
prove there is no real death. I spoke to Helen frequently during
my stay in Leicester. She has left me in no doubt she means
business. Helen realises the die is cast, and backed by the most
powerful spirit forces now aims to put the scene right. I
witnessed the power of these forces and can testify to their
sheer intelligence, skill of operation and above all, the
evidential nature of the communicators."
Mr Crossley was reunited with his wife during the Leicester
séances. He testified:
"The ultimate in personal experiences came when my wife Irene,
who passed four years ago, manifested to me on no less than four
occasions with individual mannerisms and characteristics so
familiar to me. With her final visit she brought a single red
rose and kissed me. Well, what can one say in the light of such
happenings, except that it was not only very moving, but the most
wonderful experience of my life."
Mr Crossley discussed the repercussions of what he experienced in
Leicester.
"This timely emergence of a form of mediumship so very different
from the past clearly indicates an elaborate spiritual plan with
far-reaching implications," he said. "My week at Leicester leads
me to feel a great leap forward has begun so far as spirit
communication is concerned. "I believe that those included in
what is known as the outer circle from the Other Side are paving
the way toward the most spectacular scenario to burst upon the
psychic scene. Make no mistake, to underrate the implications
they pose would be the greatest folly. An opportunity has arisen
where the way is wide open to give the world renewed certainty of
the fact that the human personality survives so-called death and
above all can, under suitable conditions, communicate between the
two worlds."
For investigators Mr Crossley had these words:
"I should warn researchers and so-called experts who have any
ideas of resorting to the old tactics of trussing up mediums,
gagging them or subjecting them to indignities of any kind, think
again. Throttling a medium is like killing the goose that lays
the golden eggs. Those days have gone. The evidence of mediumship
will stand or fall on its merits. If one is endowed with normal
faculties of observation and intelligence, this should suffice."
Rita Goold told PN last week that intimations of her mediumship
were apparent years before she discovered it herself.
"It developed over a number of years," she said, "but everywhere
we lived we have had the sensation we were living in haunted
premises. A lot of odd things happened. We began to ask, 'Why
does it follow us around?' But apparently it was me. It has all
occurred in gradual stages over the last three years. I am a
little apprehensive about where it is all going to lead.
Sometimes I ask myself the question, 'Why me?' It has changed my
life, job and career-wise. Sometimes I wonder what the spirit
world expects of me and whether I can live up to it."
I asked Rita about the new developments and why ectoplasm was
unnecessary to produce materialisations.
"The full forms are there in the room," she said. "In the past
the cabinet, red light and ectoplasm were necessary, but now our
people have said that the whole room is a black cabinet, sealed
off in the dark.
"They work from luminous light in the room, but they are now
developing a way by which they can come with their own light. So
we can now see outlines of figures. Three or four hands have been
showing up in the light. The best way I can describe it is that
it looks as if moonlight is shining on them."
Considering the rapid speed of development, I asked Rita if the
outer circle had given any indication of their ultimate intentions.
"Helen has said we will eventually be able to see them all in the
room," Rita explained. In the past communicators said: 'One day
you will get table levitation. One day you will be able to touch
us. These things have all happened. There is no reason to believe
that everything will not come true. The circle's communicators
"are determined to prove an afterlife if it is the last thing they do."
Rita stressed that money has no place in her mediumship.
"It is my mother"
"I am not a professional medium," she stated. "I do not make a
living from it. It is not a thing one should pay for. It is not a
secret home circle and has not been private for the last year. We
have sat all over England in a home environment. People from all
over England come to us. We sit three to four times a week.
Strangers come through friends and relations."
PN assistant editor Alan Cleaver has been fortunate to visit the
Leicester circle several times, often at crucial stages in its
development. Alan attended a séance when Helen Duncan's daughter,
Gena Brealey, of Luton, Beds, visited the circle to confirm or
deny it was her mother communicating. Within minutes she knew.
Helen apported to her daughter a single red rose. This had a
special significance known only to the two of them. When she was
given the rose, Gena broke down in tears of joy and cried,
"What greater proof could I have?"
For more than an hour mother and daughter spoke to each other
about intimate details only they knew, often using Scottish slang
they then had to "translate" to the other sitters. Afterwards
Gena declared:
"Yes, it is my mother. There is no doubt about it."
Alan has also been present when other people spoke to their
"dead" relatives at the circle. All have been satisfied beyond
doubt with the contact. On one occasion Alan spoke briefly with a
voice claiming to be his "dead" grandmother. Although the link
was too short to be utterly conclusive she did ask about
"Martin." Nobody else in the séance room knew who Martin was. In
fact, it is Alan's elder brother.
"In my opinion, he is the one Gran was most likely to ask about
since they were very close," said Alan.
An outstanding feature of the communicators at Leicester is their
intelligence, particularly that of Raymond Lodge. When Raymond
first communicated with his father in the 1920s - and indeed when
he was alive - he loved cryptic clues. It is clear he is still
keen on using these. As the members of the outer circle first
began to make themselves known to the group they used cryptic
clues for their names. Eventually one of the clues spelt out the
name Raymond Lodge. All Rita and the others knew of Raymond was
that he was the son of scientist Sir Oliver Lodge. When they
asked him for evidence of who he was he replied,
"You have had all the proof you need already."
The sitters did not understand this until Rita managed to obtain
a copy of "Raymond" by Sir Oliver, a book in which he details the
life and afterlife of his son. In it, Rita discovered Raymond
loved to use the same type of cryptic clues they had themselves
been receiving for some weeks. At a séance on August 6 1982 the
circle received a clue concerning a new outer circle member. It read:
"Good King, Hal is not in hot water, the first verb. You are not
in a rut. Then quietly go west with a visionary aid. The Russian
head has two capitals. He who hesitates is lost."
This was particularly clever because the phrase "he who hesitates
is lost" had been shouted at Rita by her "dead" father when she
was in a car heading for an accident. Rita swerved on to the
grass verge on clairaudiently hearing the message - and narrowly
missed the car heading towards her. It only took a few minutes
for Rita and the others to work this clue out. Some have taken
several hours. Hot water means the letter "H." According to the
clue King Hal is not in it; so you end up with "al". The first
verb is "be" from "to be." "You are not in a rut," was also
solved. Take the 'u' (you) out of rut and you have "rt". Hence
the first name is Al/be/rt". Then "quietly" is "Shh." Go West is
"W". "With a visionary aid", a visionary aid is an eye. The
Russian head has two capitals." A Russian head is a Tzar of which
the first two letters are "Tz". The reference to "he who
hesitates is lost" is well known in crossword clues where
hesitates means "er". Hence the second name is "Shh/w/eye/tz/er,"
or more correctly "Schweitzer." So number eight in the outer
circle was revealed as Albert Schweitzer, the missionary surgeon
and founder of the famous Lambarene Hospital in Africa.
Alan was also present at one of the first séances when sitters
were allowed to see and touch a hand. The séance trumpet - an
aluminium cone with a luminous strip at each end - was brightened
as much as possible. At first all that could be seen was the
silhouette of a hand and what seemed like black lines.
"Then I saw the hand properly for the first time," Alan recalled.
"The hand was smaller than a human one, probably five inches in
length, and looked as smooth as porcelain. It had no nails and no
bone joints. It was thinner than a 'normal' hand. Perhaps the
best description of it is as a hand without the bones. We were
shown it moving its fingers and wriggling about quite freely. At
one point the whole arm appeared. There seemed to be no joints
even on the elbow. It was naked."
Alan was asked if he wanted to touch the hand and told to hold
his hand out back upwards. The trumpet came up to his hand to
supply the light.
"Then I felt it," said Alan, "and the others saw my hand being
stroked. The hand felt hot and clammy with an almost sticky
quality to it. It stroked me for maybe 40 to 45 seconds. It then
stroked Pat and Barry's hands."
Alan has since visited the circle and the hands are more formed.
He has felt the bones of the hands and the varying size of different ones.