DANIEL DUNGLAS HOME
FOLLOWING the first seances of the “Fox Sisters,” in 1848, mediums sprang up all over the country like mushrooms but of this multitude there have not been more than a dozen whose work, in spite of repeated exposure, is still pointed to as proof of Spiritualism, and whose names have found a permanent place in connection with its development and history. Of these, one of the most conspicuous and lauded of his type and generation was Daniel Dunglas Home. He was the forerunner of the mediums whose forte is fleecing by presuming upon the credulity of the subject. A new and fertile field was opened and from that time to the present day there have been numerous cases of mediums falling into the clutches of the law as a direct result of using his methods, but Home had characteristics which went far in many cases to keep him out of trouble. Outwardly a lovable character with a magnetic personality and a great fondness for children; suave, captivating to the last degree, a good dresser fond of displaying jewelry; an appearance of ill-health which aroused sympathy and with an assumption of piety and devotion to established forms of religious worship, he made his way easily and found favor with many who would have spurned him under other conditions and this too, strange as it may seem, in spite of persistent rumors of immorality in his private life.
Home helped to build up his reputation by not charging for his mediumistic services. The claim that he did not accept fees for his sittings may, or may not, be quite true, but the fact remains that the spirits were good to him and provided for his temporal needs abundantly and sumptuously, and he subsisted on the bounty of his Spiritualistic friends who seemed to rival one another in entertaining him in their homes for long periods and showering him with gifts, a practice which began in America and was continued in England and on the Continent to an extent which made a life of positive luxury possible.
It is strongly intimated that the gifts which Home received were in many cases suggested by the Spirits he invoked and his spirit guide seems to have always kept a sharp eye on his need for earthly sustenance even to the point of satisfactorily bedecking his person with jewelry. This was always materialized for him when required, and since he, personally, could not be held responsible for what wicked spirits might do, and as they used good judgment in picking victims, nothing was said about it and he escaped the prison fate of Ann O’Delia Diss Debar.
His early life was spent in Connecticut but whether at the home of his aunt in Waterford or with his mother in Norwich, twelve miles away, is a question, but certain it is that at the death of his mother he went to the aunt’s. This was when he was seventeen, two years after the “Fox Sisters” had begun their career in New York State. How much he had heard of them is uncertain, something no doubt, and it is not strange that a youth of his characteristics might want to emulate them. Then too his mother had the reputation of being possessed of so-called “second-sight” and he may have inherited traits which helped to make the life of a medium look attractive to him. At any rate, claiming the assistance of his mother’s spirit, he tried out his mediumistic powers at the homes of the neighbors with such success that before long he announced to his aunt that he was going to set up as a professional Spiritualist. The lady, a devout Trinitarian, was so shocked and disturbed, he tells us, that “in her uncontrollable anger she seized a chair and threw it at me.” But much as she disliked the idea of the young man becoming a medium his performances soon attracted so much attention that she was reconciled to his leaving her home in Norwich to go to Willimantic, Connecticut, where he began his life-long custom of living on the bounty of friends and dupes. His first feats were of the simplest kind such as are in the repertoire of every itinerant sideshow proprietor, but his success seems to have been instantaneous. One reason for this was that while mediums as a class were a lazy lot Home was an untiring worker as well as an unflinching egotist and his personal qualities went far to disarm suspicion and inspire confidence in the minds of his dupes.
Where he obtained his early education does not appear but the records are full of indications of considerable intellectuality. He claimed to have studied medicine and obtained a degree in New York but he never practiced. In his later years he set up a studio in Italy34 and gave his attention to sculpture between seances and “sold busts at prices quite out of proportion to their artistic merits.” He studied elocution too and is said to have given many successful readings.35 He also had the credit of being quite a musician and playing several instruments, which partially explains his accordion trick. With it all he was considerable of a linguist, toward the last being able to speak most of the modern tongues. He was the author of two pretentious books36 whose chief purpose seems to have been to establish the impression that while all other mediums cheated at times Home was strictly honest on all occasions, and in proof it was said that he was never exposed and never received a fee for his sittings. Nevertheless one charge of fraud was proven against him in court.37 It may or may not be true that he was never completely exposed but many of his manifestations were discovered to be fraudulent and every one of them can be duplicated by modern conjurors under the same conditions. The principal reason why he was never completely exposed was that he gave no public sittings, always appearing as the guest of the family where he was living and as one writer expressed it, “one would no more think of criticising his host’s guest than he would his host’s wine.”
On one occasion Robert Browning, the poet, attended one of Home’s seances. He had become somewhat alarmed by his wife’s interest in Spiritualism, and when a face was materialized and said to be that of a son who had died in infancy, Browning seized the supposed materialized head and discovered it to be the bare foot of Mr. Home. Incidentally, Browning had never lost an infant son. The living son, R. Barrett Browning, in a letter to the London Times, December 5, 1902, referring to this occurrence said, “Home was detected in a vulgar fraud.” In the same letter he tells of the modification of his mother’s belief after having been deceived by a “trusted friend” and his closing words were: “The pain of the disillusion was great, but her eyes were opened and she saw clearly.”
What might be called Home’s American apprenticeship began in 1850 and in spite of his youth and inexperience he succeeded in convincing many prominent persons of the genuineness of his phenomena, among them being such men as Judge Edmonds,38 William Cullen Bryant, and Bishop Clarke of Rhode Island. In the spring of 1855 a committee of admirers collected a sum of money sufficient to send him to England and establish himself comfortably. He carried with him a letter of introduction to a man of scientific tastes by the name of Cox who was proprietor of Cox’s Hotel, in Jermyn Street, and through whose influence he was able to arrange sittings with Lord Brougham, Sir David Brewster, Robert Owen, T. A. Trollope, Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, and others equally prominent.
After only a few months’ stay in England Home went to Italy, ostensibly for his health, and for the next four years he lived on the Continent, travelling from place to place, living in luxury, being almost continually entertained in the homes of “friends,” which in almost every case were people of rank and wealth. He seems to have had little difficulty in meeting royalty and nobility on terms of intimacy even numbering among his patrons the Emperor and Empress of France as well as the Czar of Russia. From this clientele he received many and valuable gifts. At the Russian Court, with its leaning toward the occult, he was especially welcomed and lived for weeks at a time in the palace of the Czar, like the similar careers of Washington Irving Bishop, Mons. Phillipi, and Rasputin. During his stay in Russia he met a beautiful young lady of rank and with the approval of the Czar married her.39
Home at this time had already begun to show that fondness for precious stones which finally became so pronounced that a few years later an English writer in describing him said:
“But the salient feature of the man after all was his jewels. On the third finger of the left hand he wore an immense solitaire, which flashed imperial splendors with every movement; above that a sapphire of enormous size; on the other hand was a large yellow diamond and a superb ruby set in brilliants.”
But these were not all for the writer adds a list of others in Home’s possession which would easily arouse the envy of any multi-millionaire’s wife. In view of this fondness for jewels an incident which occurred just prior to Home’s leaving the Russian Court is interesting. The story was told me by Stuart Cumberland. I have heard him repeat it to others and he also tells it in his book, “That Other World,” from which I quote.
“Whilst in Petrograd—so at least, a famous diplomat assured me when I was there—Home did a feat of dematerialization before the Court which, had it not been for the favor in which he was held in high places, might have curtailed his liberty for a period.
“He had dematerialized a splendid row of emeralds lent the “dear spirits” for the purpose of the test; but up to the time of his departure from the seance, the emeralds, for some occult reason, had declined to materialize and be given back to the confiding owner. They were, of course, in the spirit land engaging the attention of the spooks, who seemed to have a pretty taste for valuable jewels. But the chief of police had not that faith in spiritual probity generally accepted at the Court, and before leaving the palace, Home was searched, and—so the story came to me—the dematerialized emeralds were found materializing in his coat-tail pocket. They had been placed there by an evil spirit, of course, but the chief of police impressed upon the medium that the climate of the Russian Capital might not be good for his health—that an early departure would probably benefit it. Home took the hint and his early departure. To his dying day, I think he regretted the interference of the evil spirit (or the police). It would have been so much more satisfactory for the jewels to have remained dematerialized in the spirit land, to be materialized at will with no interfering police around, for they, the jewels, were of great earthly value.”
The year 1859 found Home back in England and marked the commencement of what proved to be the period of his greatest success. It was but a few years later that he attempted his most noted financial venture. He had become established in Sloane Street, London, as Secretary of what was called “The Spiritual Athenæum.” One day, late in 1866, there came to him a widow by the name of Jane Lyon who was anxious to join his society. She was seventy-five years old and besides being wealthy in her own right had been left ample means by her husband. Previous to calling on Home she had read his book, believed it, and in addition been having a series of unusual dreams. The medium had little difficulty in finding a way to make it possible for her to join the Athenæum, and she told how later at this first meeting her husband’s spirit “had communicated with her through Home, and knotted her handkerchief.” Just all that the spirit of her husband said to her at this interview does not appear but it was enough to persuade her to give him twenty-four thousand pounds. The spirits became very much interested in Mrs. Lyon’s affairs and in November, at their direction, Home burned her will and before long she gave him another six thousand pounds.
The attachment between the widow of seventy-five and the medium of thirty-three grew apace and soon the spirit of her husband suggested that she adopt Home as her son “for he would be such a comfort to her.” The suggestion was immediately acted upon and the medium began to call himself Daniel Home Lyon. Nor was the spirit forgetful of the needs of a son, suggesting that an allowance of seven hundred pounds a year would be about right. In January (1867) Mrs. Lyon assigned a mortgage of thirty thousand pounds to Home, only reserving the interest as an annuity for herself. Not until a month later did she become worried and consult a lawyer, who assured her that she had been imposed upon, but she was not convinced until she had questioned the spirits through a girl of twelve, the daughter of a flower medium by the name of Murray. As reported by this girl even the spirits seemed to think that Mrs. Lyon had been fleeced out of sixty thousand pounds and she accordingly demanded its return by Home. He ignored the demand but offered to return the mortgage if she would give him undisputed possession of the first thirty thousand pounds and allow him to drop the name of Lyon. She would not agree to this. Home was arrested and a suit for recovery begun. The litigation was long, the case finally ending in May, 1868, with a judgment in favor of Mrs. Lyon; the Court holding that as the transfer of money and deed had been accomplished by fraud it was therefore void. In his closing remarks the Vice Chancellor referred to Mrs. Lyon as an old lady with a mind “saturated with delusion” and characterized Spiritualism as being, according to the evidence, a “system of mischievous nonsense well calculated to delude the vain, the weak, the foolish, and the superstitious.”40
Home continued his mediumship, notwithstanding, and between 1870 and 1872 he held several seances with Sir William Crookes,41 who was so impressed that he credited him with being “one of the most lovable of men—whose perfect genuineness was above suspicion,” an opinion strikingly in contrast with the verdict in the case of Mrs. Lyon, but which shows how thoroughly and easily the followers of Spiritualism are beguiled and misled. No medium is ever open to suspicion by the faithful and Sir William Crookes’ statement encourages the belief that even scientists are not always immune from the influence of personal magnetism. He is also quoted as saying:
“As to the theory of fraud, it is obvious that this theory can account for a very small portion of the facts observed. I am willing to admit that some so-called mediums of whom the public have heard much, are arrant impostors, who have taken advantage of the public demand for Spiritualistic excitement, to fill their purses with easily earned guineas; while others who have no pecuniary motive for imposture are tempted to cheat, it would seem, solely by a desire for notoriety.”
So it will be seen that even Professor Crookes, while defending the so-called genuine medium, in the same breath admits that there are fraudulent practitioners.
DIAGRAM SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF ROOMS, WINDOWS, ETC., WHERE HOME’S REPUTED FEAT OF FLOATING TOOK PLACE.
Home gained wide notoriety for unusual phenomena by his reputed levitation acts, wherein he would slide from the chair on which he was sitting to a horizontal position, then ask to have the chair removed as it was not supporting him, and would “float” under a table and back, but his masterpiece, the incident oftenest referred to, was sailing out of a window feet first, and sailing into another, seven feet and four inches distant, landing feet first in an adjacent room, where he “sat down.” Lord Adare, an observer, expressed surprise that he could have been carried through an aperture so narrow as eighteen inches whereupon “Home, still entranced said, ‘I will show you,’ and then with his back to the window he leaned over and was shot out of the aperture head first, with the body rigid, and then returned quite quietly.”42, 43
This is the way the story has been recounted again and again by Spiritualist writers and speakers and to this day is told by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with as much seriousness as if he had been an eyewitness of the occurrence in the full glare of a noon-day sun.
“When D.D. made that ‘home-run’” around the outside of his house he seems to have been seeking an altitude rather than a speed record, as the three reliable (?) witnesses agree that the windows through which he floated were in the third story and either sixty or eighty feet from the ground. This would make the height of each story from twenty to twenty-seven feet, but tall stories appear to have been a specialty with these remarkably observant gentlemen.
In 1920 I made plans for reproducing this window feat under the same conditions as Home and the late Stuart Cumberland openly challenged Spiritualists that I was ready to submit to such a test but no response was received before I left Europe. Consequently I desire to go on record as being able to perform the same phenomena (?) provided I am given the same conditions and scope which Home was. I believe that those who witnessed the feat were sincere in giving credence to it but that it was an illusion and they were deceived by Home, for the mind of the average person accepts what it sees and is not willing to apply the laws of physics, no matter how much or how glaringly the act defies the fundamental principles upon which our very existence depends.
The years between 1859 and 1872 were those of Home’s greatest success. Toward the end of this period, however, his popularity waned and having for a second time married a lady belonging to the Russian nobility, he gave up the practice of his profession, broke with nearly all his former friends and returned to the Continent where he devoted much of his time to writing. He died in 1886 and is buried at St. Germain-en-Laye.
His active career, his various escapades, and the direct cause of his death44 all indicate that he lived the life of a hypocrite of the deepest dye. How strange that these inspired agents of “Summerland,” these human deliverers of messages, these stepping stones to the Beyond, are, for the greater part, moral perverts whose favorite defence is the claim that they are forced to do such deeds by the evil spirits which take possession of them.
