THE CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM

Royal Albert Hall, London, March 31st, 1948

Demonstration by Helen Hughes

At the Great Centenary Celebration in the Royal Albert Hail the first medium to demonstrate the truth of survival and communication with spirits was Mrs. Helen Hughes, the celebrated North Country medium.

Mrs.Hughes began her demonstration by asking for someone named Mrs Wilcox. After a lady had responded, she described to her a boy named Tony. This was accepted.
The name Hobbs was then given as the surname, with the request that birthday greetings should be conveyed to his family.

To another person in the hall Mrs Hughes described an old gentleman, and with him Jimmy Brown. “I’ve got to tell you,’said the medium, “that he has found out all about George who, when in the body, was a bit of a mystery. He was at your home on Sunday and heard all the good things you were saying about him, (Yes) but he says he was not as good as all that. He wouldn’t change places with any of you. I get the name Alma.’’ (That is my name). ‘‘Do you know Doris?’’ (My sister) ‘‘Have you been laying down the law to Arnold?” (Yes) “He says you had a dickens of a time, but don’t be so dogmatic; Arnold will come to it eventually. Have you been trying to convince him?”(Yes, rather) ‘‘Arnold will come to an understanding shortly, take your time.’’

“I have a boy here named Ian Moore,” said the medium to a lady in another part of the hall. (Accepted). “He has never communicated before has he?” (No) “Do you know Digby, a young boy, he’s with David?” (Yes). “Reginald has come with Mary Rankin,” said Mrs. Hughes pointing to a lady in the hall. “This young man was shot through the hip.” This was not immediately accepted. Then Mrs. Hughes said, “Have you lived in India?” (Yes.) “Mary Rankin knows you, she is talking about India.” (I can place her.) “You have always studied the occult.” (Yes.)
“Mary Rankin met you in India. Did you stay in Calcutta?” (Yes.) ‘‘Well she is here with you now in London.”

To another recipient Mrs. Hughes gave the name, Duke, which was recognized. “Michael is
with him” (My son) “They are both R.A.F. boys and have come together.’’ (Yes.) “There is a boy with Michael named John, he knows you, he crashed over Essen, Germany; he is now saluting and saving, ‘All is well with the boys you loved’.”

“I would like to coma to the gentleman with his hands over his face,” Helen said as he pointed to
one of the galleries.
“I have to give you the name Tony, a boy killed in the American Army.” (Accepted) ‘‘He is so glad to see you here, Mary is here too, she is of the Catholic faith.’’ (Yes, that’s right.) “She tells me she will help you till you meet again.”

Further messages were given and accepted.

Demonstration by Estelle Roberts

Mrs Estelle Roberts commenced her demonstration by trying to contact a person in the very top gallery of the Royal Albert Hall, but after giving some evidence of the return of a spirit, it became clear that the difficulties of speaking to the recipient, at so great a distance made it impossible to continue further.

Turning to a lady in one of the galleries on the immediate right hand of the stage, she gave the name of Taylor. Mrs. Roberts made a very fruitful contact, and was able to convey a considerable amount of acceptable evidence of spirit return.

“Do you know George?” (Yes) ‘‘William?” (Mother’s brother.) “Jimmy?” (Yes.) “He speaks of Emily.” (Yes, my mother-in-law.)
“Elizabeth?” (Yes.) “Ann” (Yes.) “Fred”. (Yes.) “Jane-Jenny-cousin of mother? ‘ (Yes) “Arthur is with them. “(Arthur who?) – “Just a, moment, I will ask him for his surname – Arthur Mitchell.’’ (Yes.) ‘‘He reminds you of an anniversary just now.’’ (Yes, my wedding.) ‘‘I now get Flora Annie Williams, you called her Aunt Flossie when a young girl.’’ (Correct)

‘‘I now receive the name of a gentleman Geoffrey Scott;you used to call him Scottie; he had auburn hair and a freckled face; you have a photo of him with Teddy, they are leaning over their bicycles.’’

Mrs. Roberts then gave several anniversary dates. “There is one on April 12th,” she said. (Yes my sister).
“She hasn’t forgotten. The 14th June?” (Mother’s birthday) “16th October?” (Anniversary of my father’s passing). “2nd December? ‘‘ (Father’s birthday.) “All convey their love to you.”

“I don’t know you, do I?” (No, not at all.)

“I want someone named Mrs Andrew,” said Mrs Roberts facing the body of the hall. A lady responded.

“Your husband is here, and is calling Mary.” (Yes) ‘‘He on the platform and I have never seen anyone so excited before. Has he recently,passed over, about four or five months ago?” (Yes, only six weeks)

“He has met John – known as Jack.” (Yes.) “He says that the pain that he endured in the physical body has all gone, he can now walk about everywhere. ‘Give my love to the boys’, he calls. He will be with you on the anniversary in June.” (Yes.)
“As soon as it is possible he will help to adjust your physical condition especially your arms, legs, and feet.” (That’s true)

“I do not know you, do I?” (No.)

Mrs Roberts gave several more messages which were accepted.

POSTSCRIPT

In a dynamic speech, speaking of the work of those celebrated mediums, Mrs Estelle Roberts and Mrs Helen Hughes, Hannen Swaffer said that he had spoken with them in town after town, and had challenged the representatives of the press to interview the recipients of the messages, follow them to their homes, and try to disprove one message.

The challenge had never been accepted.

But suppose we had had fifty Estelle Roberts’ and fifty Helen Hughes’, we could have proved our case triumphantly over the whole of Britain.

Note by Zerdini:

This is the type of demonstration which convinced me of the truth of Spiritualism when I began my investigation fifty years ago. I have been privileged to witness and sit with some of the finest mediums, mental and physical during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

 

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Helen Hughes

Cleric convinced by Bishop’s spirit return

A retired Congregational minister, whose obituary notice PN (Jan 1972) received last week, obtained irrefutable Survival evidence from famous medium Helen Hughes.

He is the Rev George Sharp, 64, of Chesterfield, Derbys, who often shared Spiritualist platforms with Helen.

At one he told the remarkable story of how a bishop’s spirit return convinced him.

At a sitting with Helen his grandfather communicated. He was followed by an entity who said he had been the Bishop of Auckland and had met Sharp’s grandfather in New Zealand.

He never visited that country,” was Sharp’s retort. The “dead” bishop insisted they had met there.

“I gave him a Bible,” he added. “On the fly-leaf I wrote, ‘To Robert, my friend, from the Bishop of Auckland.’”

This began Sharp’s quest to check the spirit statement.

Three close relatives denied that Robert had ever been to New Zealand.

Finally Sharp questioned his 94-year-old grandmother. “Who told you?” she asked.

Without disclosing the reason, Sharp pressed the question. Robert’s widow then admitted that early in their marriage her husband went into exile in New Zealand after an unfortunate episode.

“He would never have come back to me,” she said, “had it not been for a man of your cloth.”

She told Sharp to fetch a parcel from an old chest in her bedroom. He opened it to find a Bible.

On the fly-leaf was the exact inscription given through Helen’s mediumship.

Sharp told PN at the time the Bishop of Auckland was one of his spirit helpers.

Helen Hughes was a superb medium who conducted countless propaganda meetings around the British Isles, in modern times when mediumship was still subject to the antiquated and outdated Witchcraft and Vagrancy Act (formed in 1735).

Helen Hughes was a dedicated Spiritualist whose public mediumship and private séances – during which she was often directly entranced by her sitters’ loved ones – greatly impressed countless thousands of people. Her work was recognised to be of the highest calibre, and the genuineness of her gifts was never disputed.

Verbatim records of her spirit messages make astonishing reading. Along with Estelle Roberts and a few other notable mediums of the late twentieth century (such as the trance medium Lillian Bailey) she commanded the stage at large halls and conference centres across the length and breadth of the UK, and her survival evidence was startlingly accurate.

Maurice Barbanell, Editor of the popular newspaper, Psychic News, wrote that the spirit people who communicated with Helen Hughes often referred to her as “Helen the Beloved”.

Helen possessed great charisma, and her psychic abilities were remarkably well-developed: Mrs Hughes was a Clairaudient (i.e. she could hear spirit voices).

Helen’s mediumship was considered instrumental in the UK government’s banishing of the old 1735 Witchcraft and Vagrancy Act, and in its replacing of it in 1951 by the Fraudulent Mediums Act, which at least recognised the existence of genuine mediumship.

Of her clairaudient abilities and her contact with the spirit people, Helen said, ‘I hear quite naturally, as though I were using the ordinary ear. The voices sound quite normal. I can tell if it is the voice of a man, woman, or child – or if it is a loud voice or a quiet one. Listening to the voices enables me to give the names, facts and details that provide the evidence.’

The medium heard her spirit voices ‘in my ears, or in the region of my solar-plexus…and they vary in clarity.’

Here are some verbatim snippets of Helen Hughes’s remarkable clairaudiently-received spirit messages, which she delivered in the late 1930s:

Pointing to a woman in the auditorium, Helen began:

Helen: Is your name Nellie?

Recipient: Yes

Helen: Well, then, you knew a Mr Bramwell; and I have to tell you that Mr Bramwell is here and he’s brought Harry and Mrs Wilson. She says she’s all right now, and thanks you for what you did for her. She suffered from a weak heart. She tells me that your name is Boynton.

Recipient: Correct.

For another recipient, Helen Hughes received a message “from someone called Eva, who was a musician.” She then singled out a woman in the crowd and added: “You are Eva’s mother. She played the piano; and she had a companion, Elsie, who has also passed over. Her full name is Eva Huxley.”

Recipient: Yes

Helen: (pointing to a woman in the circle) There is a Mrs Richardson in the gallery. I get the name Jimmie Richardson. He worked in an office by himself. He brings Robert and Lizzie, and also Mary Bewick. He tells me that your godmother was Mary McIntyre, and that she was in some way connected with an off-licence for the sale of beer when you were fourteen to seventeen years of age.

Recipient: Quite right!

In a private consultation which was attended by a Mr Hogg and his family, all of whom were perfect strangers to the medium, Helen Hughes delivered the following clairaudiently-received information:

Pointing to Mr Hogg she said, ‘There is a young airman here. You are his Dad.’ Turning to Mr Hogg’s son-in-law she added, ‘This boy calls you Ian: and he calls himself Douglas.’ And to the two girls who were present she announced, ‘And you are his sisters, Isobel and Mary.’

Each name and tie-of-relationship was perfectly correct.

Helen Hughes passed in 1967 aged 74.

Suggested reading: The Mediumship of Helen Hughes by Bernard Upton) (Spiritualist Press Ltd, 1945.