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The Medium and the Scientist
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, superstition and credulity were as widely spread in England among all classes of the population as they are today. Inquiry into the occult became an obsession, not only among the upper classes of society but also among working people.
This is the definitive story of Florence Cook, one of the most famous materializing mediums of Victorian England, and William Crookes, an eminent British chemist who investigated Florence and her attendent spirit, "Katie King." Trevor Hall, a well-known expert in psychic research, has skillfully and tactfully examined the mediumistic careers of Florence Cook and her sister Kate and their connections with Crookes and with Charles Blackburn, the Manchester businessman.
After sifting through all the evidence, including contemporary spiritualist periodicals and many previously unknown documents, Hall comes to some startling conclusions about the seances held by the Cook sisters and the experiments made by Crookes. He is able to throw new and unexpected light on the relationship between Florence Cook and the scientist who risked his professional reputation to save hers. An extraordinary and fascinating story is revealed as the author reveals the strange, shadowy society of the late nineteenth century when "as many heads as tables were being turned."
This is the definitive story of Florence Cook, one of the most famous materializing mediums of Victorian England, and William Crookes, an eminent British chemist who investigated Florence and her attendent spirit, "Katie King." Trevor Hall, a well-known expert in psychic research, has skillfully and tactfully examined the mediumistic careers of Florence Cook and her sister Kate and their connections with Crookes and with Charles Blackburn, the Manchester businessman.
After sifting through all the evidence, including contemporary spiritualist periodicals and many previously unknown documents, Hall comes to some startling conclusions about the seances held by the Cook sisters and the experiments made by Crookes. He is able to throw new and unexpected light on the relationship between Florence Cook and the scientist who risked his professional reputation to save hers. An extraordinary and fascinating story is revealed as the author reveals the strange, shadowy society of the late nineteenth century when "as many heads as tables were being turned."
207 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1984
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April 2, 2025
COULD A FAMOUS CHEMIST HAVE BEEN FOOLED BY A 19TH CENTURY MEDIUM?
Author Trevor Hall wrote in the Preface to this 1984 book, “During the course of the investigation upon which this book is based, I have tried to make myself acquainted with the very extensive literature relating to the mediumship of Florence Cook, and I hope that nothing of importance has been omitted… In the case of Kate Cook… [who] was virtually an unknown medium compared with her famous sister… Many significant facts concerning both Florence and Kate… and certain of the other more important actors in this drama of the ‘golden age’ of spiritualism, have been assembled from official records of the period.”
He notes, “independent accounts of Florence’s subsequent séances contained no hint of these wonderful levitations and violent physical phenomena being repeated. As soon as named sitters other than Mr. and Mrs. Cook and Mr. Blyton had the opportunity of attending séances, the manifestations in the subsequent months seem to have been reduced to the mere appearance of alleged spirit faces at an aperture in the upper part of the door…” (Pg. 7) Later, he adds, “It is clear from contemporary accounts that Florence’s ‘spirit-faces’ aroused some skepticism, even among devout spiritualists.” (Pg. 20)
Lord Arthur Russell recounted of an 1878 séance, “it was.. very disappointing, after Miss Florence Cook had been tied down in the cupboard, and the ghost of ‘Katie [King]’ looked out of the peephole, to observe that the face of the ghost was merely Miss Florence Cook’s face, with a piece of white linen wrapped around it… When Miss Florence Cook was liberated, and the string with which she had been bound was cut, Lady Arthur Russell, who does not believe in ghosts, naturally picked up the string and examined it carefully. She found that the portion which passed round Miss Cook’s waist, had been cut, and sewed together again with white thread… The explanation suggested… that the string might have been cut and mended by an evil spirit, in order to … discredit… Spiritualism, [was no] more conclusive.” (Pg. 22-23)
He notes that William Voickman (who was himself a Spiritualist) said of a 1873 séance of Ms. Cook’s that he attended, “having for forty minutes carefully observed … the face, features… and peculiarities of utterance of the so-called spirit, the conviction irresistibly forced itself upon me that NO GHOST, but the medium, Miss Florence Cook herself was before the circle… I am confirmed in my conviction .. by the facts that the struggling ghost had to be FORCIBLY extracted from my grasp and afterwards ‘aided’ into her cabinet by a Justice of the Peace.” (Pg. 29)
He quotes a very skeptical 1870 paper that William Crookes (an eminent British chemist) wrote about spiritualists, then observes, “had these standards of scientific evidence been applied by Crookes to his investigation of the mediumship of Florence Cook… [his later] position … would have been untenable.” (Pg. 34-35)
He notes, “Crookes’s letter, like his published accounts, cannot fail to suggest to the reader, incredible as it may seem, that if the séances were fraudulent he must have been fully aware of the fact, and that complicity on his part would have made the employment of a confederate a simple matter.” (Pg. 59)
Sergeant Cox wrote a letter to medium D.D. [Daniel Dunglas] Home in 1876, telling of a ‘Katie King’ séance: “While the preparation is going on behind the curtain, the company are always vehemently exhorted to sing. This would conveniently cover any sounds of motion in the act of preparing… But I have learned how the trick is done… She informs her friend that she comes to the séance prepared with a dress that is easily taken off… She brings a muslin veil of thin material…. It is carried IN HER DRAWERS! It can be compressed into a small space, although when spread it covers the whole person… This explains the whole business…” (Pg. 80-81)
Well, if Miss Cook was so clearly a fake, why would a brilliant man such as Dr. Crookes seemingly strongly support her mediumship? “It would have been difficult for any reader of 1876 to place any construction upon [J.N.] Maekelyne’s remark that Crookes was ‘much too far gone,’ other than that the scientist was clearly infatuated, a conclusion reinforced by Davies’s statement that the marked attentions paid by Crookes to Katie from the very first excited suspicion.’” (Pg. 87)
An Usk Anderson “declared that Florence told him of her former relationship with Sir William Crookes, how she had been his mistress, and how they had gone to Paris together. She openly admitted that her mediumship had been fraudulent.” (Pg. 101)
Hall forcefully argues, “there can be little doubt of the invalidity of any theory that if Florence Cook’s mediumship was fraudulent then Crookes was unaware of it and published his reports mistakenly but in good faith. The genuineness or otherwise of the phenomena and Crookes’s’ integrity as an investigator are inextricably entangled.” (Pg. 104)
Finally, he reports, “The disclosures made by Florence Cook to Francis Anderson and Jules Bois can not be viewed in the light of what we know… [Florence] said that William Crookes had been her lover, and that their affair had been in progress during the famous séances at which he ostensibly played the part of a scientific investigator but had in fact secretly been her accomplice in fraudulent deception.” (Pg. 178)
This book will of great interest to those studying 19th century Spiritualism.
Author Trevor Hall wrote in the Preface to this 1984 book, “During the course of the investigation upon which this book is based, I have tried to make myself acquainted with the very extensive literature relating to the mediumship of Florence Cook, and I hope that nothing of importance has been omitted… In the case of Kate Cook… [who] was virtually an unknown medium compared with her famous sister… Many significant facts concerning both Florence and Kate… and certain of the other more important actors in this drama of the ‘golden age’ of spiritualism, have been assembled from official records of the period.”
He notes, “independent accounts of Florence’s subsequent séances contained no hint of these wonderful levitations and violent physical phenomena being repeated. As soon as named sitters other than Mr. and Mrs. Cook and Mr. Blyton had the opportunity of attending séances, the manifestations in the subsequent months seem to have been reduced to the mere appearance of alleged spirit faces at an aperture in the upper part of the door…” (Pg. 7) Later, he adds, “It is clear from contemporary accounts that Florence’s ‘spirit-faces’ aroused some skepticism, even among devout spiritualists.” (Pg. 20)
Lord Arthur Russell recounted of an 1878 séance, “it was.. very disappointing, after Miss Florence Cook had been tied down in the cupboard, and the ghost of ‘Katie [King]’ looked out of the peephole, to observe that the face of the ghost was merely Miss Florence Cook’s face, with a piece of white linen wrapped around it… When Miss Florence Cook was liberated, and the string with which she had been bound was cut, Lady Arthur Russell, who does not believe in ghosts, naturally picked up the string and examined it carefully. She found that the portion which passed round Miss Cook’s waist, had been cut, and sewed together again with white thread… The explanation suggested… that the string might have been cut and mended by an evil spirit, in order to … discredit… Spiritualism, [was no] more conclusive.” (Pg. 22-23)
He notes that William Voickman (who was himself a Spiritualist) said of a 1873 séance of Ms. Cook’s that he attended, “having for forty minutes carefully observed … the face, features… and peculiarities of utterance of the so-called spirit, the conviction irresistibly forced itself upon me that NO GHOST, but the medium, Miss Florence Cook herself was before the circle… I am confirmed in my conviction .. by the facts that the struggling ghost had to be FORCIBLY extracted from my grasp and afterwards ‘aided’ into her cabinet by a Justice of the Peace.” (Pg. 29)
He quotes a very skeptical 1870 paper that William Crookes (an eminent British chemist) wrote about spiritualists, then observes, “had these standards of scientific evidence been applied by Crookes to his investigation of the mediumship of Florence Cook… [his later] position … would have been untenable.” (Pg. 34-35)
He notes, “Crookes’s letter, like his published accounts, cannot fail to suggest to the reader, incredible as it may seem, that if the séances were fraudulent he must have been fully aware of the fact, and that complicity on his part would have made the employment of a confederate a simple matter.” (Pg. 59)
Sergeant Cox wrote a letter to medium D.D. [Daniel Dunglas] Home in 1876, telling of a ‘Katie King’ séance: “While the preparation is going on behind the curtain, the company are always vehemently exhorted to sing. This would conveniently cover any sounds of motion in the act of preparing… But I have learned how the trick is done… She informs her friend that she comes to the séance prepared with a dress that is easily taken off… She brings a muslin veil of thin material…. It is carried IN HER DRAWERS! It can be compressed into a small space, although when spread it covers the whole person… This explains the whole business…” (Pg. 80-81)
Well, if Miss Cook was so clearly a fake, why would a brilliant man such as Dr. Crookes seemingly strongly support her mediumship? “It would have been difficult for any reader of 1876 to place any construction upon [J.N.] Maekelyne’s remark that Crookes was ‘much too far gone,’ other than that the scientist was clearly infatuated, a conclusion reinforced by Davies’s statement that the marked attentions paid by Crookes to Katie from the very first excited suspicion.’” (Pg. 87)
An Usk Anderson “declared that Florence told him of her former relationship with Sir William Crookes, how she had been his mistress, and how they had gone to Paris together. She openly admitted that her mediumship had been fraudulent.” (Pg. 101)
Hall forcefully argues, “there can be little doubt of the invalidity of any theory that if Florence Cook’s mediumship was fraudulent then Crookes was unaware of it and published his reports mistakenly but in good faith. The genuineness or otherwise of the phenomena and Crookes’s’ integrity as an investigator are inextricably entangled.” (Pg. 104)
Finally, he reports, “The disclosures made by Florence Cook to Francis Anderson and Jules Bois can not be viewed in the light of what we know… [Florence] said that William Crookes had been her lover, and that their affair had been in progress during the famous séances at which he ostensibly played the part of a scientific investigator but had in fact secretly been her accomplice in fraudulent deception.” (Pg. 178)
This book will of great interest to those studying 19th century Spiritualism.
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