Annie Fairlamb Mellon (1850–1938) also known as Mrs. J. B. Mellon was a British materialization medium. Mellon was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and became interested in

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

from a young age. In the 1870s she worked with the medium C. E. Wood and was associated with the Newcastle Spiritual Evidence Society. In 1877, she resigned from the Society due to personal problems with committee members. She married James Barr Mellon in July 1878 and worked as an independent medium, giving séances in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Psychical researchers strongly suspected that Mellon's materializations were fraudulent. She was defended by the spiritualist

William Thomas Stead William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was a British newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst ed ...

. Carrington, Hereward. (1907). ''The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism''. Herbert B. Turner & Co. pp. 231-234 Mellon claimed that

Frederic W. H. Myers Frederic William Henry Myers (6 February 1843 – 17 January 1901) was a British poet, classicist, philologist, and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research. Myers' work on psychical research and his ideas about a "subliminal self" w ...

, Sidgwick and other members from the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

had endorsed her

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship o ...

as genuine. On investigation this claim turned out to be false. In February and March, 1875 in Newcastle, Myers and Sidgwick who attended séances described her mediumship as "inconclusive" and "suspicious".Henry, Thomas Shekleton. (1902 edition, first published 1894)
''Spookland: A Record of Research and Experiment in a Much-talked-of Realm of Mystery, with a Review and Criticism of the So-called Spiritualistic Phenomena of Spirit Materialization, and Hints and Illustration as to the Possibility of Artificially Producing the Same''
Clyde Publishing Company. pp. 50-72 On 12 October 1894 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Mellon was exposed as a fraud by Thomas Shekleton Henry. He had caught Mellon kneeling on the floor pretending to be a spirit of a young girl called 'Cissie' with a mask and

muslin Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured. Muslin of uncommonly delicate handsp ...

. A false beard, clothing and more muslin was found in her séance cabinet. Hall, Trevor H. (1980). ''The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney''. Gerald Duckworth & Company. p. 47. The exposure is considered to have discredited Mellon as a medium. Psychical researcher

Hereward Carrington Hereward Carrington (17 October 1880 – 26 December 1958) was a well-known British-born American investigator of psychic phenomena and author. His subjects included several of the most high-profile cases of apparent psychic ability of his times, ...

commented that she was "detected and caught red-handed, in producing the grossest fraud."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellon, Annie Fairlamb 1850 births 1938 deaths English spiritual mediums