Helen Duncan, a British medium active in the twentieth century, gained notoriety for her ability to materialize spirits during séances. She was put on trial for witchcraft. Duncan’s trial commenced on March 30, 1944. Twenty-two witnesses testified to the authenticity of their encounters during Duncan’s séances, asserting connections with departed loved ones. In one, a woman named Helaine Fry testified under oath that a number of her relatives in spirit now appeared and spoke to her. Her miscarried son appeared to her and spoke to her. She concluded, “He is fully alive now.”
The court testimony follows.
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Defense attorney: Have you yourself been fortunate enough to have any personal identifications?
Helaine Fry: Yes, quite a lot.
Defense attorney: Who were they?
Helaine Fry: My sister, my nephew, my uncle, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law and my son.
[Intervening testimony omitted]
Defense attorney: Would you be good enough to tell us first of all about your son? How do you know that he was your son, Mrs. Fry?
Helaine Fry: It is very difficult to explain. My son was never born in the flesh. Albert said it was my son, but he has never had completely his physical body on earth. He said he would try to bring him to me. He tried, and my son came, and Albert said he could not give him a face. He came and opened his arms to me but he had no face.
Prosecuting attorney: When was this son of yours stillborn, or not born in the flesh? How long ago?
Helaine Fry: He would have been twenty- four now if he had lived.
Prosecuting attorney: When you say he was never born in the flesh, you mean he was stillborn or a miscarriage?
Helaine Fry: Yes.
Prosecuting attorney: An early one or a late one?
Helaine Fry: Five months.
Prosecuting attorney: When you saw your son, the spirit materialization, was he being carried by anybody?
Helaine Fry: No, he was not.
Prosecuting attorney: What form did he take, a grown form?
Helaine Fry: He was like all the others, because he is grown-up now, except that they could not build him a face. That was the only difference, but he was my son, I know.
Prosecuting attorney: Because Albert said so?
Helaine Fry: I could feel it. I talked to him.
Prosecuting attorney: He was grown-up, you mean, to the extent to which a man of twenty would be grown?
Helaine Fry: Yes, absolutely. He is fully alive now.[i]
[i] C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, ed., “Full Text of ‘The trial of Mrs. Duncan.’” The Old Bailey Trial Series (London: Jarrolds Publishers, 1945): 298-300
