HELLISH NELL

Malcolm Gaskill delves into the life of Helen Duncan - the fraudulent Scottish medium whose ectoplasm-filled seances saw her ending up on the wrong side of the law

- Malcolm Gaskill

It's the winter of 1942 and you have lost a son in the war. Devastated and desperate for a final farewell, you attend a seance where you sit facing open curtains strung across a corner of the room. A stout black-haired woman enters in a stately fashion and takes her seat there. The main lights are switched off, leaving only the glow of a red bulb. A gramophone plays lighthearted music, which, the organiser explains, helps "raise the vibrations".

As the curtains close, a man you can't see introduces himself as Albert, the medium's spirit guide. With him, he says, he has the spirit of a soldier killed in the war. When Albert says his name, you call to claim him, and the curtains part to reveal, dimly, a glimmering mass trailing from the medium's slumped body. The audience gasps - but to you, this is more than a paranormal spectacle. For as the shape increases in size and definition, you see your dead son. "Hello Mum", he says, holding out a spectral hand.

The medium here was Mrs Helen Duncan, a virtuoso 'materialiser' and producer of 'ectoplasm', who, in the 1930s and 40s travelled around Britain, usually with a female companion. Typically, her destinations were cities or small towns, often seaside resorts. Her health was poor, and she gave off an air of self-sacrifice for a higher cause. She performed in sitting rooms and attics, chapels and public halls, to people from all walks of life. Some were passionate believers or the desperate bereaved; others went for fun - "going to the spooks", they called it.

Opinion was divided. Did her psychic powers extend a bridge of love and enlightenment into the afterlife? Or was this mysterious woman just a heartless fraud who exploited vulnerable people?

MATERIALISING SPIRITS