Autor: Daniel Dunglas Home

Daniel Dunglas Home was born in Currie, Scotland, on 20th March 1833. His mother was a renowned seer and it was noted early on his life that Daniel inherited his mother“s gift of „second sight“. Daniel had many brothers and sisters and was a sickly child so his parents, worried about the amount of time and attention he was taking up, allowed a childless aunt to adopt him. His aunt recalled that his cradle rocked independently whilst he was a baby and by the time he was four she had witnessed him correctly predicting the forthcoming death of a young cousin who lived some distance away.In 1842 he moved with his aunt to America and the strange phenomena went with him. In 1846 a friend, Edwin, came to him in a vision and told him that he had died three days earlier – a few days after the vision word was sent of Edwin“s death and Daniel“s clairvoyance was proved correct. In 1850 his mother died and she told him in a vision when and where she died even though she was miles away when he „saw“ her and once again his vision was confirmed when the news of his mother“s death was received by the family.Not long after this he began to hear „spirit knockings“ in his aunt“s home. She was highly religious and wanted nothing to do with what was going on and expelled him from the family home and so he started out on a life on the road. His fame was already spreading and he found people happy to take him in, beginning in Willimantic, Connecticut, where he held his first séance which was enough of an event to be reported in the local papers.Over the course of the next couple years Daniel displayed various phenomena such as correctly diagnosing illnesses and suggesting alternative cures which would later be proved effective. He was well known in Connecticut and Massachusetts but an incident in 1852 would gain the interest of New York Society. In South Manchester, Connecticut, a local businessman named Ward Cheney invited Daniel to perform a séance at his home. Cheney and his guests witnessed Home levitate up to the ceiling twice as well as other phenomena and once the word spread of these feats Daniel was on his way to New York where he would find both acceptance and ridicule.Whilst in New York he studied medicine as well as giving séances but he had to abandon both New York and his studies in 1855 when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. His doctor suggested that he move to Europe where the weather would help his condition and so in March 1855 he sailed to England. London society was also spilt in opinion over Daniel with many notable figures such as Lord Brougham, Sir David Brewster and Elizabeth Barrett-Browning all attending séances. Barrett-Browning“s belief in Home“s abilities was much to the chagrin of her poet husband, the famed Robert Browning, who detested Daniel and whose poem, „Sludge The Medium“, was a thinly veiled attack on Home.He spent the next year or so touring Europe and winning many famous admirers but in 1856 his powers left him for a year in which time he turned to Roman Catholicism but once his powers returned he abandoned that and carried on roaming around Europe impressing various Royals such as Napoleon III and the Queen of Holland. By 1858 he was in Rome, where he met some members of the Russian nobility and quickly became engaged to Alexandrina. They married soon after in Russia with Alexander Dumas acting as best man.In the May of the following year Alexandrina gave birth to their son Gregoire but Home“s happiness was only to last for a brief time as his wife tragically died in 1862. The following year Daniel published his autobiography, „Incidents In My Life“, which provoked savage reviews from the likes of Charles Dickens and as a result Daniel