Helen Duncan was a twentieth-century British materialization medium. During one of her séances in 1941 a sailor came through, explaining he had perished when the HMS Barham was sunk. The British Admiralty, worried about public morale, had been keeping the incident secret. Two years later, as an invasion of Germany approached, they wanted to prevent any further revelations. Duncan was arrested and tried under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. The Admiralty’s reaction to her knowledge demonstrated that they knew her statements were accurate.
Helen Duncan’s trial began on March 30, 1944. Twenty-two witnesses described the . . .
