An article on Wikipedia sites that Helen Duncan (1897 – 1956) was a hard-working Scottish woman who supported her six children and wounded veteran husband by working part time in a bleach factory. This was only to supplement her income, because Helen was a medium. At times, the strange substance ectoplasm would drip from her mouth and move objects around in her séance room.
In 1931, she submitted herself for testing by the London Spiritual Alliance. Like many physical mediums, she was acused of being a fraud, but there were certain times she was able to channel information she had no way of knowing.
In 1934, she had her first brush with the justice system. One of her sitters in Edinburgh, Scottland broke the taboo and touched the ectoplasm. The ploice were summoned because the alleged spiritual matter was nothing more than stockinette. But, it wasn’t until 1941 that she really got herself into a mess.
During World War II, Helen’s sitters were mostly concerned family and friends of soldiers fighting communism. During a séance in Portsmouth, England, she suddenly dropped all of the cheap tricks and reported that the HMS Barham of the Royal Navy had just sunk. British authority had kept this a secret, so when word got to high-ranking officials, Helen was arrested under section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824. However, officals saw her as a threat to national security and later charged her under section 4 of the Witchcraft Act 1735, a hideous law that allowed the defendant to be tried in front of a jury.
There were those who came to her defense. Not the least of which was Helen Duncan herself who told the judge she would glady demonstrate her spiritual gifts for the whole court; the judge wouldn’t hear of it. Her customers horrified officials when they confessed she had a talent for mentioning ships that were in trouble, and could report to a family within hours of a soldiers death, even the location where he died. She was convicted and sentenced to jail for nine months.
Not too long after the verdict, Home Secretary Herbert Morrison received an angry letter from none other than Winston Churchill. The British Prime Minster was furious that someone had been tried under the appauling Witchcraft Act and berated everyone involved for their abuse of the legal system and foolishness in believing in such superstitions.
After she was released in 1945, she swore she wouldn’t conduct any more séances. But, soon after she was back holding sittings. In 1956, the authories raided her house during a séance, and she died nine months later.
Her trial died abolish the ignorant Witchacrft Act, however. It was replaced by the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951, which only applied to mediums who were caught cheating customers.
