News Briefs 31-10-2011

Hi Kaviraj,

Not a lot of time on my hands today, but there were a number of things that irked me. Not including either Mrs Piper or Mrs Leonard in the "some of the most famous “mediums” of that era" list was poor form - considering the amount of research done on them, and that Mrs Piper especially is a centerpiece of Blum's book that was mentioned earlier in the article - instead picking out mediums implicated in fraud (especially considering the inclusion of Helen Duncan, who wasn't really in "that era"). The suggestion that the 1910 investigation of Palladino was "more thorough" than the one in 1908 has no basis, and there is special mention that conjuror William S. Marriott was involved (despite not mentioning conjurors present at 1908 investigation). Marriott is quoted giving his conclusion of fraud, but no space is given to another world-famous magician, Howard Thurston, who said in 1910 that despite exposing many fraudulent mediums, he was convinced that Palladino's levitations were genuine and was willing to put $1000 on the line as a challenge. Also, comments such as "Strangely, nobody seemed to attach any significance to the fact that Palladino had once been married to a traveling conjuror" seem designed to suggest that the investigators were naive, when the reality was that all investigators knew she used trickery when allowed, but they were intrigued by seemingly more genuine phenomena that occurred under strict controls.

Including Wiseman's self-created trope about his book having "the dubious distinction of not being accepted for publication in the US, where acquisitions editors apparently decided that American gullibility about ghosts and paranormal activity meant that a book debunking that sort of thing would never sell. " And so on...

I don't wish to be completely negative though, the article also did offer some open-mindedness on the topic.