You
may have thought that witchcraft trials died out hundreds of years ago,
but Scottish medium Helen Duncan was prosecuted for being a with in
1944! She was an accomplished performer who drew believers to her
psychic appearances and seances by producing “ectoplasm” from her mouth
and foretelling the future. But one forecast was so uncanny that it
caused an investigation.
Her psychic “talents” came to
the notice of the Royal Navy after Helen claimed she saw an apparition
of a dead sailor from the sunk ship HMS Barham, during a seance in
Southampton. She said the dead sailor claimed his ship had been sunk
with the loss of all life on board. As this was during the Second World
War, official announcements about any sunk British vessel were held back
so as not to damage morale. Duncan claimed she knew it HMS Barham as
she had seen the ship’s name in the band of the dead sailor’s hat.
Duncan was right, but that information was classified. Was she a spy or a witch? Read about
Helen Duncan and her legal troubles at Dangerous Minds.
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