Everything about Daniel Dunglas Home totally explained
Daniel Dunglas Home (pronounced 'Hume') (
March 20,
1833 –
June 21,
1886) was a
Scottish Spiritualist, famous as a physical
medium with the reported ability to levitate to a variety of heights, speak with the dead, and to produce rapping and knocks in houses at will.
When Home was young, he moved with his aunt and uncle from Scotland to America, where they lived in
Connecticut. After becoming well-known he travelled to England in 1855, and conducted hundreds of
séances, which were attended by many of the best-known names of the
Victorian period.
Though there were speculations that Home employed
fraud, none were ever proven. Home died in France in 1886, and was buried in the
St. Germain-en-Laye cemetery in Paris.
Family
Daniel Home's mother, Elizabeth Home (née McNeill) was known as a
seer in Scotland, as were many of her predecessors, like her great uncle Colin Uruqhart, and her uncle Mr. McKenzie. The gift of
second sight was often seen as a
curse, as it foretold instances of tragedy and death. Home's father, William Home, was the illegitimate son of Alexander, the
10th Earl of Home. Evidence supports the elder Home's illegitimacy, as various payments meant for William were made by the 10th Earl. Elizabeth and William were married when he was 19-years-old, and found employment at the
Balerno paper mill. The Homes moved into one of small houses built in the mill for the workforce, in
Currie (six miles south-west of Edinburgh). William was described as a "bitter, morose and unhappy man" who drank, and was often aggressive towards his wife.
Early life
Daniel Home was Elizabeth's third child, and was born on
20 March 1833. He was baptised by the Reverend Somerville three weeks after his birth. The one-year-old Home was deemed a delicate child, having a "nervous temperament", and was passed to Elizabeth's childless sister, Mary Cook. She lived with her husband in the coastal town of
Portobello, east of Edinburgh. It was at the Cook's house that Home's cradle rocked by itself, and the infant had a vision of a cousin's death, who lived in
Linlithgow, to the west of Edinburgh.
America
Sometime between 1838 and 1841, Home's aunt and uncle decided to emigrate to the United States with their adopted son, sailing in the cheapest class of
steerage as they couldn't afford a cabin. After landing in New York, the Cooks travelled to
Greeneville, near
Norwich, Connecticut. The
red-haired and
freckled Home attended school in Greeneville, where he was known as "Scotchy" by the other students. 13-years-old Home didn't join in sports games with other boys, preferring to take walks in the local woods with a friend called Edwin. The two boys read the Bible to each other and told stories, and made a pact stating that if one or the other were to die, they'd try and make contact after death. Home lost contact with Edwin until one night when Home, according to Lamont, saw a brightly lit vision of him standing at the foot of the bed, which gave Home the feeling that his friend was dead. Edwin made three circles in the air before disappearing, and a few days later a letter arrived stating that Edwin had died of malignant
dysentery, which was three days before Home's vision.
A few years later Home and his aunt returned to Greeneville, and Elizabeth Home emigrated from Scotland to America with the surviving members of the family to live in
Waterford, Connecticut, which was away from the Cook's house. Home and his mother's reunion was short-lived, as Elizabeth foretold her own death in 1850. This was also confirmed by Home, as he saw his mother in a vision saying, "Dan, twelve o'clock", which was the time of her death. His aunt was a
Presbyterian, and held the
Calvinist view that one's fate has been decided, so Home embraced the
Wesleyan faith, which believed that every soul can be saved. Home's aunt resented Wesleyans so much that she forced Home to change to
Congregationalist, which was also not to her liking, but was more in line with her own religion. The house was then disturbed by rappings and knocking similar to those that occurred two years earlier at the home of the
Fox sisters. Ministers were called to the Cook's house: a Baptist, a Congregationalist, and even a Wesleyan minister, who all believed that Home was possessed by the Devil, although Home believed it was a gift from God. The knocking didn't stop however, and a table started to move by itself, even though Home's aunt put a bible on it and then placed her full body weight on it. As the noises didn't stop, and were attracting the unwanted attention of Cook's neighbours, Home was told to leave the house.
Fame
The eighteen-year-old Home stayed with a friend in
Willimantic, Connecticut, and later
Lebanon, Connecticut. Home held his first séance in March 1851, which was reported in a Hartford newspaper managed by W. R. Hayden, who wrote that the table moved without anyone touching it, and kept moving when Hayden physically tried to stop it. After the newspaper report, Home became well-known in
New England, travelling around healing the sick and communicating with the dead, although he wrote that he wasn't prepared for this sudden change in his life because of his supposed shyness.
Home never directly asked for money, although he lived very well on gifts, donations and lodging from wealthy admirers. He felt that he was on a "mission to demonstrate immortality", and wished to interact with his clients as one gentleman to another, rather than as an employee. In 1852, Home was a guest at the house of Rufus Elmer in
Springfield, Massachusetts, giving séances six or seven times a day, which were visited by crowds of people, including a Harvard professor, David Wells, and the poet and editor of the
New York Evening Post,
William Cullen Bryant. They were all convinced of Home's credibility and wrote to the
Springfield Republican newspaper stating that the room was well-lit, full inspections were allowed, and said, "We know that we were not imposed upon nor deceived". It was also reported that at one of Home's demonstrations five men of heavy build (eight hundred and fifty pounds together) sat on a table, but it still moved, and others saw "a tremulous phosphorescent light gleam over the walls". Home was investigated by numerous people, such as Professor
Robert Hare, the inventor of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, and John Worth Edmonds, a
Supreme Court judge, who were sceptical, but later said they believed Home wasn't fraudulent.
Home's breakthrough came in August 1852, in
South Manchester, Connecticut, at the house of Ward Cheney, a successful silk manufacturer. Home was seen to levitate twice and then rise to up to the ceiling, with louder rappings and knocking than ever before, more aggressive table movements and the sounds of a ship at sea in a storm, although persons present said that the room was badly lit so as to see the spirit lights.
New York was now interested in Home's abilities, so he moved to an apartment at Bryant Park on 42nd street. His most verbal critic in New York was
William Makepeace Thackeray, the author of '
Vanity Fair'. Thackeray dismissed Home's abilities as "dire humbug", and "dreary and foolish superstition", although Thackeray had been impressed when he saw a table turning. Home thought that Thackeray was "the most sceptical inquirer" he'd ever met, and as Thackeray made public his thoughts, Home faced public scepticism and further scrutiny. Home travelled between
Hartford, Springfield, and
Boston during the next few months, and settled in
Newburgh by the
Hudson River in the summer of 1853. He resided at the Theological Institute, but took no part in any of the theological discussions held there, as he wanted to take a course in medicine. Dr. Hull funded Home's studies, and offered to pay Home five dollars a day for his séances, but Home refused, as always. His idea was to fund his work with a legitimate salary by practicing medicine, but he became ill in early 1854, and stopped his studies. Home was diagnosed with
Tuberculosis, and his doctors recommended recuperation in Europe. His last séance was in March 1855, in Hartford, Connecticut, before he travelled to Boston and sailed to England on board the
Africa, at the end of March.
Europe
Upon his arrival in England the previously known Daniel Home had lengthened his name to Daniel Dunglas Home, in reference to the Scottish house of Home, of which his father claimed to be a part. In London Home found a believer in
spiritualism called William Cox, who owned a large hotel at 53, 54 and 55 Jermyn Street, London. As Cox was so enamoured of Home's abilities, his stay at Cox's hotel was without payment.
Robert Owen, an 83-year-old social reformer, was also staying at the hotel, and introduced Home to many of his friends in London society.
At the time Home described as tall and thin, with blue eyes and auburn hair, fastidiously dressed but seriously ill with consumption. Nevertheless, he held sittings for notable persons in full daylight, moving objects at a distance. Some early guests at his sittings included the scientist
Sir David Brewster, the novelists
Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton and
Thomas Adolphus Trollope, and the
Swedenborgian James John Garth Wilkinson. Home converted most sceptics, but
Robert Browning, the poet, proved more difficult. After attending a séance of Home's Browning gave his impression of Home in the unflattering poem, "Sludge the Medium" (1864). His wife,
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was convinced that the phenomena she witnessed was genuine and their discussions about Home were a constant source of disagreement.
Home's fame grew, fuelled by his feats of levitation.
William Crookes claimed to know of more than 50 occasions in which Home levitated, many of these at least five to seven feet above the floor, "in good light." More common were feats recorded by
Frank Podmore: "We all saw him rise from the ground slowly to a height of about six inches, remain there for about ten seconds, and then slowly descend." In the following years Home travelled across continental Europe, and always as a guest of wealthy patrons. In Paris, he was summoned to the
Tuileries to perform a séance for
Napoleon III. Home also performed for
Queen Sophia of the Netherlands, who wrote of the experience, "I saw him four times...I felt a hand tipping my finger; I saw a heavy golden bell moving alone from one person to another; I saw my handkerchief move alone and return to me with a knot... He himself is a pale, sickly, rather handsome young man but without a look or anything which would either fascinate or frighten you. It is wonderful. I'm so glad I've seen it..."
In 1866, Mrs Lyon, a wealthy widow, adopted Home as her son, and gave £60,000 to him, in an attempt to gain introduction into high society. Finding that the adoption didn't change her social situation, she repented her action, and brought a suit for the return of her money on the grounds that it had been obtained by spiritual influence. Under British law, the defendant bears the burden of proof in such a case, and proof was impossible since there was no physical evidence. The case was decided against Home, Mrs Lyon's money was returned, and the press enjoyed pillorying him. Home's high society acquaintances thought that he behaved like a complete gentleman throughout the ordeal, and he didn't lose a single important friend.
Home encountered one of his closest friends in 1867; the young Lord Adare (later the
4th Earl of Dunraven). Adare was fascinated by Home, and began documenting the seances they held. One of Home's levitations occurred the following year. In front of three witnesses (Adare, Captain Wynne, and
Lord Lindsay) Home was said to have levitated out of the third storey window of one room, and in at the window of the adjoining room.
Home married twice. In 1858, he married Alexandria de Kroll, the 17-year-old daughter of a noble Russian family. They had a son, Gregoire, but Alexandria fell ill with tuberculosis, and died in 1862. In October of 1871, Home married for the second time, to Julie de Gloumeline, a wealthy Russian, whom he met in St Petersburg. In the process, he converted to the
Greek Orthodox faith. At the age of 38, Home retired, as his health was bad – the tuberculosis, from which he'd suffered for most of his life, was advancing –and his powers, he claimed, were failing. He died on the
21 June 1886, and was buried in the St. Germain-en-Laye cemetery.
Acceptance and criticism
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stated that Home was unusual in that he'd four different types of mediumship:
direct voice (the ability to let spirits audibly speak);
trance speaker (the ability to let spirits speak through oneself);
clairvoyant (ability to see things that are out of view); and
physical medium (moving objects at a distance, levitation, etc., which was the type of mediumship had no equal). Home was suspicious of any medium who claimed powers he himself didn't possess, particularly the
materializing mediums (such as the
Eddy Brothers), who claimed the ability to produce solid spirit forms, and he marked these as fraudulent.
Lord Adare stated that Home "swung out and in" of a window in a horizontal position. "He [Home] came in [throughthe window] again, feet foremost, and we returned to the other room. It was so dark I couldn't see clearly how he was supported" [outsideof the three story window]. Podmore recorded that Home had a constant companion that sat opposite of him during his séances. Between 1870 and 1873, Crookes conducted experiments to determine the validity of the phenomena produced by three mediums:
Florence Cook,
Kate Fox, and Home. Crookes' final report in 1874 concluded that the phenomena produced by all three mediums were genuine, a result which was roundly derided by the scientific establishment. Crookes recorded that he controlled and secured Home by placing his feet on the top of Home's feet. Crooke's method of foot control later proved inadequate when used with
Eusapia Palladino, as she merely slipped her foot out and in of her sturdy shoe. Alexander von Boutlerow, Professor of Chemistry at the University of St. Petersburg and Home's brother-in-law, also obtained positive results in his tests of Home.
Frank Podmore and
Milbourne Christopher provide a source of speculation on the ways in which Home could have duped his sitters. Some testimony suggests that Home often conducted his demonstrations in dim light. For example, there's this report from a witness: "The room was very dark...Home's hands were visible only as a faint white heap". The light conditions during Home's most famous feat of levitation were disputed, but some witnesses recorded that it was quite dark.
James Randi stated that Home was caught cheating on a few occasions, but the episodes were never made public, and that the accordion Home is supposed to have played without touching it was a
one-octave mouth organ that Home concealed under his large moustache. James Randi writes that one-octave mouth organs were found in Home's belongings after his death. Eric Dingwall who catalogued Home's collection on its arrival at the SPR doesn't record this. It is unlikely Dingwall would have missed these or didn't make them public.
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