The gloomy Middle Ages was also marked by a witch hunt. Many thousands of Europeans, suspected of witchcraft, were burned to death after savage torture. However, the matter did not end with the onset of enlightenment. The latest trial was the case against Helen Duncan, the medium who predicted the course of events in World War II. All this took place in good old England in 1944.
As a medium, a woman gained fame back in the thirties. According to her and the opinion of her clients, she was able to materialize the souls of those who have recently "departed to another world." This was provided by ectoplasm, which Helen was able to produce in her own body. She released her medium through her mouth.
One of the photographs Duncan allowed to be taken during the seance shows this process. The people present at the sessions told that the entities that the woman materialized did not have a density corresponding to material objects. Their state was more like a clot of gas or dense smoke.
Naturally, it was difficult to trust this, to accept it as the truth. Not only ordinary citizens were skeptical about materialization, but also, more precisely, first of all, scientists. Among them was Harry Prince. He served as director of the country's Physics Laboratory. The scientist studied the paranormal features of Duncan. She conducted many sessions in his presence.
It was suspected that the medium used gauze to bring reality to what she was doing. After swallowing it before the session, Duncan would spit it out at some point. Thus, the participants in the session saw what they wanted to see - the erupting ectoplasm. Doubts also increased because of Helen Duncan herself. She refused to offer to check what was happening during the X-ray examination.
The Second World War began, and almost from its first days, the popularity of Duncan's seances began to grow. People came to the medium to get at least some information about their relatives, friends, about those who are close to them.
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A little time passed, and Helen Duncan became interested in British intelligence. It was May 1941. The medium lived in the city of Porsmouth, where the country's navy was based. Once, during a spiritualistic seance, having entered a trance, Duncan told about the sunken English warship, and about the fact that it took 1100 sailors with him to the seabed.
This event at sea did happen, but there was no news that the ship and its crew were killed. Naturally, the medium immediately fell under suspicion, since the source of her information was not known.
HMS Barham.
After a not very long time (1941), during a seance, Duncan in front of a woman, the mother of a naval sailor, appeared his ghost in a naval uniform. Witnesses to the seance claimed that, despite the ghost's vagueness, the inscription "HMS Barham" on his cap could be read without difficulty. This was the name of the ship on which the sailor served. From the ghost, the participants of the session learned about the participation of the ship in the battle and that it was sunk by a German submarine. At the same time, none of the ship's crew managed to escape.
There were no reports of the death of the ship in the media. Officials from the country's government denied this fact. Only after the lapse of several months was the statement about the death of the ship made. Justifying such a delay in information, the higher ranks of the admiralty motivated it by the need to preserve the fighting spirit in the country. In addition, they feared that such a loss could cause panic. Everything about the sinking of the Barham was classified. Since Duncan's seance took place much earlier, literally "hot on the trail" after the sinking of the ship, this could not but alert military intelligence. Moreover, this was not the first case when information appeared much earlier than its appearance in sources available to citizens.
The Secret Service was somewhat confused. There was not much time left until D-Day, which was scheduled for the landing of the Allied forces in Europe. The option in which the medium in her session could find out secret information about June 6, 1944 (the day of disembarkation) could not be ruled out. In this case, national security was threatened. It was not possible to stop Duncan. There was no law prohibiting seances. The secret services had only one way out, which they used.
This accusation was opposed by the medium's granddaughter Mary Martin. The charges of treason were far-fetched, she said. Helen's sons and both sons-in-law were serving in the military. Mary is sure that her grandmother would not divulge classified information.
The medium was condemned. But whether this was done the way the witches were sentenced is not clear. The law "Witchcraft Act 1735" is interpreted and interpreted by a significant part in the country in different ways. Then, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was not introduced as a measure against witches, to combat such beliefs. Its essence is that no one in the United Kingdom should be prosecuted for being a sorcerer or a witch. The reason - it was recognized by law that witches do not exist.
At the same time, a person could be fined or imprisoned if he claimed to have witch power, or is it. That is, this was equated with fraud. For the time of its adoption, this law was of great importance. He forbade witch hunting, because since they do not exist, such a hunt is not possible. By the way, the United Kingdom became the first state to abolish previously adopted laws that allowed witch hunting. For example, the last witch in Switzerland was executed in 1782.
Since Duncan was convicted, this meant that the court assigned her the power of a witch. It should be emphasized that the medium did not recognize herself as a witch. It should also be added here that it was not the last against which the named law was applied. A certain Jane Rebecca York was also accused in 1944 of having appropriated the power of a witch.
Helen was arrested in January 1944 at a seance. The London Old Baile Court had been hearing her case for seven days. After she was found guilty by law of the early eighteenth century, the medium was sentenced to nine months in prison. Duncan was to serve her sentence in London's "Holloway Prison". The medium was denied the opportunity to appeal.
By that time, the name of the medium was so popular that even British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who met with Duncan, came to the prison to meet with her. According to rumors, the prime minister believed in the paranormal and even attended sessions of the medium. It is likely that from the very beginning he closely followed the progress of the process. At this time, preparations were actively underway for the opening of the Second Front, the ships with the landing party set off for the European shores, and in such a tense atmosphere, the Prime Minister was constantly interested in what was happening at the trial. After the verdict was passed, he indicted the judges, claiming that the lights were biased and unfair.
Winston Churchill was rumored to have believed in the paranormal.
In 1945, Churchill lost the election. He returned to power in 1951. The first thing the prime minister did then was that the law of 1735 was canceled.
Police and secret services continued to track Duncan after the end of the war. The medium released from prison took an oath that she would no longer engage in spiritualistic séances. But, probably, at someone's insistent request, she sometimes returned to her occupation. One day in November 1956, the police broke into the room where the session was taking place.
Duncan with "ectoplasm" that closely resembles a rubber glove.
The entity, or perhaps the energy field, literally melted into thin air. The police couldn't prove Duncan was a fraud. However, the arrested woman was taken to the police station and placed in a pre-trial detention center.
After a short period of time, a doctor was called to Duncan. Having met with the medium, he realized that in front of him was not a witch, but a sick woman. On her stomach, he stated two burns. Their doctor assessed them as second-degree burns. Perhaps they were the result of a sharp interruption of the session and the reaction of the ectoplasm to this.
According to people involved in paronormalism, if a spiritualistic session is interrupted, it will negatively affect the medium in a trance. In trance, the medium has an increased physical sensitivity. At this time, you cannot even touch it. Because of this, ectoplasm will return to him with great speed and he may suffer.
Helen Duncan.
The arrest negatively affected the health of Helen Duncan. She left the city for her native places. The medium was born and raised in Scotland. She had relatives there. Probably, the medium felt his close end, and she wanted to spend the last days in the circle of loved ones. Helen lived here for only five weeks. The medium died at the age of 59.