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Sorcerer of Kings
In 1848 the Fox sisters, living near Rochester, New York, began modern spiritualism by producing a series of "raps" or "knocks", supposedly from the spirit world, through which communication could be maintained. The public's interest was captured, and soon an overwhelming desire to communicate with departed loved ones led to the devising of other methods of communicating with the spirits.
Spiritualism spread rapidly both in Britain and in the United States, with mediums setting up shop everywhere. Some mediums were obvious charlatans, while others were highly skilled conjurors. Some sincerely believed they had psychic power. Gradually, a number of the more skillful mediums gained reputations that brought them national and international fame. Among these "superstars" was Daniel Dunglas Home, recognized as one of the finest mediums of the nineteenth-century.
Scientists of the time remained aloof about the phenomena of spiritualism, unwilling to attend seances or examine the phenomena under controlled conditions. A rare exception was Sir William Crookes, a chemist and physicist who was roundly ridiculed by many of his fellow scientists for his five-year investigation of a number of important spiritualists and mediums, including Daniel Dunglas Home, Florence Cook, and Anna Eva Fay. Although many were later proven to be frauds, Daniel Dunglas Home was able to escape detection - until now.
The Sorcerer of Kings takes readers inside the testing procedures of Crookes to explore just what his investigation entailed. What made Sir William a believer? How could so many other mediums fall victim to their own gimmicks, while Home successfully overcame efforts to expose him? Noted researcher Gordon Stein unwraps this century-old mystery to reach startling new conclusions about a man whose "powers" were eagerly sought on two continents, and the man of science who attempted to find him out once and for all.
Spiritualism spread rapidly both in Britain and in the United States, with mediums setting up shop everywhere. Some mediums were obvious charlatans, while others were highly skilled conjurors. Some sincerely believed they had psychic power. Gradually, a number of the more skillful mediums gained reputations that brought them national and international fame. Among these "superstars" was Daniel Dunglas Home, recognized as one of the finest mediums of the nineteenth-century.
Scientists of the time remained aloof about the phenomena of spiritualism, unwilling to attend seances or examine the phenomena under controlled conditions. A rare exception was Sir William Crookes, a chemist and physicist who was roundly ridiculed by many of his fellow scientists for his five-year investigation of a number of important spiritualists and mediums, including Daniel Dunglas Home, Florence Cook, and Anna Eva Fay. Although many were later proven to be frauds, Daniel Dunglas Home was able to escape detection - until now.
The Sorcerer of Kings takes readers inside the testing procedures of Crookes to explore just what his investigation entailed. What made Sir William a believer? How could so many other mediums fall victim to their own gimmicks, while Home successfully overcame efforts to expose him? Noted researcher Gordon Stein unwraps this century-old mystery to reach startling new conclusions about a man whose "powers" were eagerly sought on two continents, and the man of science who attempted to find him out once and for all.
140 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1993
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April 4, 2025
A STRONG ATTACK UPON D.D. HOME, CROOKES, AND SPIRITUALISM
Author Gordon Stein (1941-1996) was the librarian of the Center of Inquiry, which houses both the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and the Council for Secular Humanism.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1993 book, “In order to understand the subject of this book… read this short background about spiritualism…. It is difficult to appreciate today how important spiritualism was at the time. The mystery of what, if anything, happens after death has always been of great interest to humans… Spiritualism spread rapidly both in Britain and the United States, with mediums setting up shop everywhere. These mediums ranged from blatantly fake to the highly skilled conjurer to the possibly authentic… The average member of the public was impressed by them all, since the desire to contact dead loved ones was very strong… Gradually a number of the more skillful mediums became … ‘superstars.’ The others were frequently exposed as fakes…
“Among the superstars was Daniel Dunglas Home, still recognized as the finest physical medium of the 19th century… Physical mediumship existed on a large scale until about 1925. One of the people largely responsible for the eventual decline … was the magician Harry Houdini. His highly publicized exposures of fake mediums eventually soured people on them. Today, the only remnant of the physical medium is the trance channeler, who is a pale imitation of the best physical mediums.
“Scientists generally remained aloof from the phenomena of spiritualism, unwilling to attend séances or examine the phenomena under controlled conditions. A rare exception was William Crookes, a chemist and physician who was highly respected in 19th century British science. Crookes was ridiculed for his 5-year investigation of a number of important spiritualist mediums. This book is the story of that investigation, plus an analysis of what went wrong with it.”
Stein admits, “My personal position on this matter is as follows: Home was either a CONSCIOUS fraud, or spiritualism is true. If spiritualism is true, how do we account for the following two sets of facts? (1) Many mediums have been exposed as fraudulent. If spirits really existed… there would be no need for fraud. (2) Since the heyday of spiritualism ended about 1930… the spirits have been strangely silent. They were also silent before 1850. Have they no longer any desire to communicate with living people? For these two reasons, plus my personal knowledge of conjuring techniques, I have come to the conclusion … that Daniel Dunglas Home was a conscious fraud, and a conjurer. True, he was an extremely clever and original conjurer. Nevertheless, I think I have been able to explain how all of his effects were produced, using strictly conjuring explanations. In doing so, I have had to reveal a number of magicians’ secrets, but I hope that my fellow magicians will forgive me for doing so.” (Pg. 19)
He explains, “Home was protected from exposure by the power of his friends… one time Home was caught with a small vial… He quickly abandoned the vial upon noticing that he had been observed… The substance … [was] what was then called ‘oil of phosphorus’.. this interesting liquid… [is] suited to only one purpose, namely producing lights or glowing forms in the dark.” (Pg. 21)
He reports, “We now come to the ‘smoking gun’ in the case against Crookes… Serjeant Edward Cox claimed [during a séance] that he could see Mrs. [Annie Eva] Fay herself… through a crack in the curtain… [the appearance was supposed to be that of a 'ghost']... Mrs. Fay… was later to admit that she was a fake.” (Pg. 64)
He continues, “To return to Crookes’s motivation, I can think of only one such reason… Crookes was a convinced spiritualist, and he wanted to dignify spiritualism with a scientific imprimatur. A scientist had investigated it and had pronounced it genuine. It boggles the mind to think that Crookes was so imbued with this desire that he could spend several years faking his results in order to deceive his fellow scientists and the public, but it is the only conclusion that seems to make sense given the facts that we have.” (Pg. 67) [Stein perhaps should have read Trevor H. Hall’s book, ‘The Medium and the Scientist: The Story of Florence Cook and William Crookes,’ where Hall suggests that Crookes and Cook had an affair, during the period of Crookes's' support of Spiritualism.]
Of Home’s famous ‘levitation’ at Ashley House, he suggests, “Archie Jarman, a friend of Trevor Hall… says the windows were 7 feet 4 inches apart… [he also] discovered that there were steel bolts protruding from the building on either side of the balconies… It was possible, Jarman thought, for a heavy cord to have been fastened by Home to the two bolts … With this cord securely attached, it could serve as a support at the back of a man as he edged his way along the string-course… [the] rope would be unobservable except if someone had leaned out of the windows… Another suggestion had been made by Alice Johnson that Home actually opened the window in the other room and then sneaked back in the darkness to the first room, where he stepped up on the window sill INSIDE the window. He then opened the window in back of himself by turning his hands backwards. Once the window was open, he simply stepped into the room from the window sill.” (Pg. 89)
He argues, “Trevor Hall’s explanation [in his own book on Home] requires that the balconies be closer together than they apparently were…. However, if Jarman’s measurements are correct, this could not have been done. Why Hall chose to ignore the measurements of a man who he claims was his friend is difficult to understand.” (Pg. 89-90)
He reports an account of one of Home’s séances: “[General] Fleury left the sitting, then silently returned to stand behind Home, where he would not be noticed…he saw Home remove his right foot from its shoe and touch the empress on the hand with his bare foot. General Fleury then told the séance group what he had seen. Home was escorted to the ferry at Calais the next day by two government agents who had orders to keep the incident secret.” (Pg. 100)
He recounts, “There are a number of sittings by D.D. Home … when ‘spirit hands’ appeared. These usually glowing hands appeared and touched various people seated around the séance table. A Mr. F. Merrifield “later said that he saw the entire device attached to Home’s arm between the medium’s body and the ‘spirit hand.’ [This is] an eyewitness account of fraud on the part of Home.” (Pg. 101-102)
He records, “Home was observed looking at a small vial. When Home noticed that he had been observed, he surreptitiously abandoned the vial… The observer cleverly managed to pick up the vial… The question … now becomes, ‘What was Home doing with a vial of oil of phosphorous?’… about this time Home was producing small, glowing ‘patches,’ and occasionally glowing hands, in his sittings. The glowing objects were dropped from his séances … shortly after this, and never reappear.” (Pg. 103)
He also suggests, “The use of confederates by Home, although certainly not frequent, may also have played a small role in the production of some of his otherwise inexplicable phenomena.” (Pg. 108)
He concludes, “With all three of our principals shown to have feet of clay, what does this say about the SCIENTIFIC validity of spiritualism?... the question is critically tied to the present explanation of it by Crookes, as this is the ONLY scientific study of spiritualism that concluded that such phenomena were valid. If Crookes’s studies can be shown to be flawed or invalid, the ONLY scientific support for spiritualistic phenomena (and for D.D. Home as a medium with a previously untarnished reputation) vanishes. That support, it seems to me, has not disappeared as a result of the revelations of the present examination. Spiritualism is left as a much hoped for, but unverified, RELIGIOUS outlook.” (Pg. 116)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone wanting a skeptical perspective on Home.
Author Gordon Stein (1941-1996) was the librarian of the Center of Inquiry, which houses both the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and the Council for Secular Humanism.
He wrote in the Preface to this 1993 book, “In order to understand the subject of this book… read this short background about spiritualism…. It is difficult to appreciate today how important spiritualism was at the time. The mystery of what, if anything, happens after death has always been of great interest to humans… Spiritualism spread rapidly both in Britain and the United States, with mediums setting up shop everywhere. These mediums ranged from blatantly fake to the highly skilled conjurer to the possibly authentic… The average member of the public was impressed by them all, since the desire to contact dead loved ones was very strong… Gradually a number of the more skillful mediums became … ‘superstars.’ The others were frequently exposed as fakes…
“Among the superstars was Daniel Dunglas Home, still recognized as the finest physical medium of the 19th century… Physical mediumship existed on a large scale until about 1925. One of the people largely responsible for the eventual decline … was the magician Harry Houdini. His highly publicized exposures of fake mediums eventually soured people on them. Today, the only remnant of the physical medium is the trance channeler, who is a pale imitation of the best physical mediums.
“Scientists generally remained aloof from the phenomena of spiritualism, unwilling to attend séances or examine the phenomena under controlled conditions. A rare exception was William Crookes, a chemist and physician who was highly respected in 19th century British science. Crookes was ridiculed for his 5-year investigation of a number of important spiritualist mediums. This book is the story of that investigation, plus an analysis of what went wrong with it.”
Stein admits, “My personal position on this matter is as follows: Home was either a CONSCIOUS fraud, or spiritualism is true. If spiritualism is true, how do we account for the following two sets of facts? (1) Many mediums have been exposed as fraudulent. If spirits really existed… there would be no need for fraud. (2) Since the heyday of spiritualism ended about 1930… the spirits have been strangely silent. They were also silent before 1850. Have they no longer any desire to communicate with living people? For these two reasons, plus my personal knowledge of conjuring techniques, I have come to the conclusion … that Daniel Dunglas Home was a conscious fraud, and a conjurer. True, he was an extremely clever and original conjurer. Nevertheless, I think I have been able to explain how all of his effects were produced, using strictly conjuring explanations. In doing so, I have had to reveal a number of magicians’ secrets, but I hope that my fellow magicians will forgive me for doing so.” (Pg. 19)
He explains, “Home was protected from exposure by the power of his friends… one time Home was caught with a small vial… He quickly abandoned the vial upon noticing that he had been observed… The substance … [was] what was then called ‘oil of phosphorus’.. this interesting liquid… [is] suited to only one purpose, namely producing lights or glowing forms in the dark.” (Pg. 21)
He reports, “We now come to the ‘smoking gun’ in the case against Crookes… Serjeant Edward Cox claimed [during a séance] that he could see Mrs. [Annie Eva] Fay herself… through a crack in the curtain… [the appearance was supposed to be that of a 'ghost']... Mrs. Fay… was later to admit that she was a fake.” (Pg. 64)
He continues, “To return to Crookes’s motivation, I can think of only one such reason… Crookes was a convinced spiritualist, and he wanted to dignify spiritualism with a scientific imprimatur. A scientist had investigated it and had pronounced it genuine. It boggles the mind to think that Crookes was so imbued with this desire that he could spend several years faking his results in order to deceive his fellow scientists and the public, but it is the only conclusion that seems to make sense given the facts that we have.” (Pg. 67) [Stein perhaps should have read Trevor H. Hall’s book, ‘The Medium and the Scientist: The Story of Florence Cook and William Crookes,’ where Hall suggests that Crookes and Cook had an affair, during the period of Crookes's' support of Spiritualism.]
Of Home’s famous ‘levitation’ at Ashley House, he suggests, “Archie Jarman, a friend of Trevor Hall… says the windows were 7 feet 4 inches apart… [he also] discovered that there were steel bolts protruding from the building on either side of the balconies… It was possible, Jarman thought, for a heavy cord to have been fastened by Home to the two bolts … With this cord securely attached, it could serve as a support at the back of a man as he edged his way along the string-course… [the] rope would be unobservable except if someone had leaned out of the windows… Another suggestion had been made by Alice Johnson that Home actually opened the window in the other room and then sneaked back in the darkness to the first room, where he stepped up on the window sill INSIDE the window. He then opened the window in back of himself by turning his hands backwards. Once the window was open, he simply stepped into the room from the window sill.” (Pg. 89)
He argues, “Trevor Hall’s explanation [in his own book on Home] requires that the balconies be closer together than they apparently were…. However, if Jarman’s measurements are correct, this could not have been done. Why Hall chose to ignore the measurements of a man who he claims was his friend is difficult to understand.” (Pg. 89-90)
He reports an account of one of Home’s séances: “[General] Fleury left the sitting, then silently returned to stand behind Home, where he would not be noticed…he saw Home remove his right foot from its shoe and touch the empress on the hand with his bare foot. General Fleury then told the séance group what he had seen. Home was escorted to the ferry at Calais the next day by two government agents who had orders to keep the incident secret.” (Pg. 100)
He recounts, “There are a number of sittings by D.D. Home … when ‘spirit hands’ appeared. These usually glowing hands appeared and touched various people seated around the séance table. A Mr. F. Merrifield “later said that he saw the entire device attached to Home’s arm between the medium’s body and the ‘spirit hand.’ [This is] an eyewitness account of fraud on the part of Home.” (Pg. 101-102)
He records, “Home was observed looking at a small vial. When Home noticed that he had been observed, he surreptitiously abandoned the vial… The observer cleverly managed to pick up the vial… The question … now becomes, ‘What was Home doing with a vial of oil of phosphorous?’… about this time Home was producing small, glowing ‘patches,’ and occasionally glowing hands, in his sittings. The glowing objects were dropped from his séances … shortly after this, and never reappear.” (Pg. 103)
He also suggests, “The use of confederates by Home, although certainly not frequent, may also have played a small role in the production of some of his otherwise inexplicable phenomena.” (Pg. 108)
He concludes, “With all three of our principals shown to have feet of clay, what does this say about the SCIENTIFIC validity of spiritualism?... the question is critically tied to the present explanation of it by Crookes, as this is the ONLY scientific study of spiritualism that concluded that such phenomena were valid. If Crookes’s studies can be shown to be flawed or invalid, the ONLY scientific support for spiritualistic phenomena (and for D.D. Home as a medium with a previously untarnished reputation) vanishes. That support, it seems to me, has not disappeared as a result of the revelations of the present examination. Spiritualism is left as a much hoped for, but unverified, RELIGIOUS outlook.” (Pg. 116)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone wanting a skeptical perspective on Home.
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