Leonora Piper: Difference between revisions
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'''Leonora Piper''' (née Symonds, 1857 – 1950) was according to some, the most famous [[trance]] [[medium]] in the history of [[Spiritualism]].<ref>''The Spiritualists, The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'' by Ruth Brandon, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983</ref><ref>''Modern Spiritualism'' (1902) by [[Frank Podmore]] The foremost history of spiritualism. Reprinted as ''Mediums of the 19th Century, vols. 1 & 2'' University Books, 1963</ref><ref>''Search for the Soul'' by Milborne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, Publishers, 1979, page 152</ref> Piper was the subject of intense interest by American and British psychical research associations during the early 20th century, most notably [[William James]] and the [[Society for Psychical Research]].<ref name="Cohen">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/books/14cohe.html?ex=1159243200&en=407ccecf1b0ba924&ei=5070|title=‘Ghost Hunters’: Seeking Science in Séance|last=Cohen|first=Patricia|date=August 14, 2006|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=8 December 2009}}</ref> Piper claimed to have no memory regarding her sittings.<ref name="Spiritism' 1994, page 11">''Studies in Spiritism'' by Amy Tanner, Prometheus Books, 1994, Originally published by D. Appleton, 1910, page 11 & 13</ref> In 1992, [[Martin Gardner]] published an exposé called “How Mrs. Piper Bamboozled William James” detailing techniques Mrs. Piper may have used such as fishing for information by gauging sitters’ responses to wrong answers and gaining information while her sitters believed she was unconscious in a trance.<ref name="Gottlieb">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/books/review/20Gottlieb.html?_r=1&ex=1159243200&en=340d4589179fd468&ei=5070|title=Raising Spirits |last=Gottlieb|first=Anthony|date=August 20, 2006|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=8 December 2009}}</ref> |
'''Leonora Piper''' (née Symonds, 1857 – 1950) was according to some, the most famous [[trance]] [[medium]] in the history of [[Spiritualism]].<ref>''The Spiritualists, The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'' by Ruth Brandon, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983</ref><ref>''Modern Spiritualism'' (1902) by [[Frank Podmore]] The foremost history of spiritualism. Reprinted as ''Mediums of the 19th Century, vols. 1 & 2'' University Books, 1963</ref><ref>''Search for the Soul'' by Milborne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, Publishers, 1979, page 152</ref> Piper was the subject of intense interest by American and British psychical research associations during the early 20th century, most notably [[William James]] and the [[Society for Psychical Research]].<ref name="Cohen">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/books/14cohe.html?ex=1159243200&en=407ccecf1b0ba924&ei=5070|title=‘Ghost Hunters’: Seeking Science in Séance|last=Cohen|first=Patricia|date=August 14, 2006|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=8 December 2009}}</ref> Piper claimed to have no memory regarding her sittings.<ref name="Spiritism' 1994, page 11">''Studies in Spiritism'' by Amy Tanner, Prometheus Books, 1994, Originally published by D. Appleton, 1910, page 11 & 13</ref> In 1992, [[Martin Gardner]] published an exposé called “How Mrs. Piper Bamboozled William James” detailing techniques Mrs. Piper may have used such as fishing for information by gauging sitters’ responses to wrong answers and gaining information while her sitters believed she was unconscious in a trance.<ref name="Gottlieb">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/books/review/20Gottlieb.html?_r=1&ex=1159243200&en=340d4589179fd468&ei=5070|title=Raising Spirits |last=Gottlieb|first=Anthony|date=August 20, 2006|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=8 December 2009}}</ref> But Gardner many times lied about the Parapsychology. <ref>http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/anomalistics/skeptic_research.htm</ref> Further, he clearly admits to have a prejudice against some experiments of Parapsychology: |
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''As for empirical tests of the power of God to answer prayer, I am among those theists who, in the spirit of Jesus' remark that only the faithless look for signs, consider such tests both futile and blasphemous.'' (Gardner, 1983, p. 239)<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n2_v57/ai_14890637/pg_12/?tag=content;col1</ref> |
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Gardner clearly can't be viewed as a reliable source. |
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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Revision as of 12:34, 23 May 2010
Leonora Piper (née Symonds, 1857 – 1950) was according to some, the most famous trance medium in the history of Spiritualism.[1][2][3] Piper was the subject of intense interest by American and British psychical research associations during the early 20th century, most notably William James and the Society for Psychical Research.[4] Piper claimed to have no memory regarding her sittings.[5] In 1992, Martin Gardner published an exposé called “How Mrs. Piper Bamboozled William James” detailing techniques Mrs. Piper may have used such as fishing for information by gauging sitters’ responses to wrong answers and gaining information while her sitters believed she was unconscious in a trance.[6] But Gardner many times lied about the Parapsychology. [7] Further, he clearly admits to have a prejudice against some experiments of Parapsychology:
As for empirical tests of the power of God to answer prayer, I am among those theists who, in the spirit of Jesus' remark that only the faithless look for signs, consider such tests both futile and blasphemous. (Gardner, 1983, p. 239)[8]
Gardner clearly can't be viewed as a reliable source.
Biography
Piper grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire where, according to her parents, she first displayed psychic abilities as a child. At the age of 22 she married shopkeeper William Piper of Boston and settled in the city's Beacon Hill area. After the birth of her first child, Alta, she sought relief from recurring pain caused by a childhood accident. Upon visiting an elderly blind man who claimed he could contact spirits that could aid in healing, she said she heard voices that resulted in her ability to deliver a message by automatic writing to a local judge who claimed the words came from his recently deceased son.[9]
Agreeing to do readings for other visitors in her home, she soon gained attention from members of the American Society for Psychical Research and later its British associate, the Society for Psychical Research. Among these were Minot Savage, Richard Hodgson, and George B. Dorr. Later psychic investigators included Oliver Lodge, Frederick W. H. Myers, James Hyslop, and G. Stanley Hall and his assistant Amy Tanner. In 1885 soon after the death of his son, psychologist, philosopher, and SPR member William James had his first sitting with Piper at the suggestion of his mother-in-law.[9] James was soon convinced that Piper knew things she could only have discovered by supernatural means.[6] James expressed his belief that Piper's mediumistic abilities were genuine, saying, "If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black, it is enough if you prove that one crow is white. My white crow is Mrs. Piper."
As with other mediums of the era, Piper claimed the use of spirit guides or "controls". Among hers was a personality referred to as "G.P." and another called 'Phinuit'. The latter was purportedly a French doctor. Phinuit's French was limited to salutations like "bonjour" and "au revoir" and had little apparent knowledge both of the French language and medicine. According to some accounts, medical people were surprised Phinuit did not know the French or Latin names for the many remedies Piper advised for her sitters, and Phinuit's historical existence could not be verified by SPR investigations.[10] Among other spirit guides she claimed were assuming control of her were a young Indian girl named Chlorine, a man named Hodgson, Martin Luther, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, Henry Longfellow, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington.[11]
Martin Gardner writes in his essay “How Mrs. Piper Bamboozled William James” that transcribed records of Piper's seances clearly illustrate that she used the technique of cold reading and "fishing", as vague statements were followed by more precise information based on how sitters reacted. Gardner reports that when caught in an error, Piper's "control" would invariably profess deafness and "leave" her, and that Piper was unable to discern between real and fictitious information fed to her.[11]
Over time, Piper made three visits to England at the request of the SPR. In subsequent years, Piper claimed her abilities would alternately cease and return, sometimes with a decade or more intervening. She worked with a few other psychic investigators for a short time and then retired for good in 1927. Piper died on July 3, 1950.[9]
See also
References
- ^ The Spiritualists, The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries by Ruth Brandon, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983
- ^ Modern Spiritualism (1902) by Frank Podmore The foremost history of spiritualism. Reprinted as Mediums of the 19th Century, vols. 1 & 2 University Books, 1963
- ^ Search for the Soul by Milborne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, Publishers, 1979, page 152
- ^ Cohen, Patricia (August 14, 2006). "'Ghost Hunters': Seeking Science in Séance". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ Studies in Spiritism by Amy Tanner, Prometheus Books, 1994, Originally published by D. Appleton, 1910, page 11 & 13
- ^ a b Gottlieb, Anthony (August 20, 2006). "Raising Spirits". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/anomalistics/skeptic_research.htm
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n2_v57/ai_14890637/pg_12/?tag=content;col1
- ^ a b c Blum, Deborah (2007). Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life. Penguin Group. p. 98. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
- ^ William James on Psychical Research compiled and edited by Gardner Murphy, M.D. and Robert O. Ballou, Viking Press, 1960, page 105
- ^ a b Gardner, Martin (2003). Are universes thicker than blackberries? “How Mrs. Piper Bamboozled William James”. W. W. Norton & Company. Retrieved 9 December 2009.