The Coulomb Affair was a conflict between Emma and Alexis Coulomb, on one side, and

Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 187 ...

and the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

, on the other. Blavatsky met Emma and Alex in 1871 in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. They founded the short-lived Société Spirite. In August 1879, Emma and Alex contacted Blavatsky because they had financial problems. They were stranded in Sri Lanka, and Blavatsky helped them to get to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and tried to find a job for them. As she could not find a job for them, she provided them with a position in the Theosophical Society, where they did various chores, such as cooking and gardening. In February 1884, Blavatsky and H. S. Olcott travelled to Europe. After their departure, a conflict between the Coulombs and the Theosophical Society escalated. The Coulombs tried to blackmail and threaten Blavatsky, whereupon Blavatsky dismissed them. When the theosophists inspected Blavatsky's room after the Coulombs had to leave, they found secret doors in her room . Alexis claimed that he constructed these secret doors for Blavatsky. Theosophists have said that Alexis' constructions were obviously newly built, and the secret doors could not be opened or closed silently or without strong effort. After the Coulombs were dismissed, they went to their Christian missionary friends of the Free Church of Scotland, and gave them letters that were allegedly written by Blavatsky to Emma. These letters suggested that Blavatsky was a fraud. The chaplain George Patterson published extracts from these letters in the

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Christian College Magazine. The incident became well known all over India and also in America and Europe. Blavatsky then immediately published a reply in several newspapers. Blavatsky and Olcott then travelled back to India in the end of 1884. Soon afterwards the

Hodgson Report ''Report of the committee appointed to investigate phenomena connected with the Theosophical Society'', commonly called the Hodgson Report was an 1885 report by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) on Helena Blavatsky and purportedly apport ...

was published, which also severely damaged Blavatsky's reputation. The report also contained the allegations of the Coulombs. In 1986 and 1997, Vernon Harrison of 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 ...

published a study on the Hodgson Report. The Blavatsky–Coulomb letters were destroyed by

Elliott Coues Elliott Ladd Coues (; September 9, 1842 – December 25, 1899) was an American army surgeon, historian, ornithologist, and author. He led surveys of the Arizona Territory, and later as secretary of the United States Geological and Geographic ...

, an enemy of Blavatsky, so that they cannot be studied.

Literature

* Besant, Annie: ''H. P. Blavatsky und die Meister der Weisheit''. Theosophisches Verlagshaus, Leipzig 1924 * Coulomb, Emma: ''Some account of my association with Madame Blavatsky from 1872 to 1884''. Lawrence Asylum Press, Madras 1884 * Harrison, Vernon: ''H. P. Blavatsky und die SPR, Eine Untersuchung des Hodgson Berichtes aus dem Jahre 1885''. Theosophischer Verlag 1998; {{ISBN, 3-930623-21-8 * Hartmann, Franz: ''Wahrheit und Dichtung, Die Theosophische Gesellschaft und der Wunderschrank von Adyar''. o.O. 1906

External links

"The Theosophical Movement 1875–1950"
Cunningham Press, 1951 (page 82ff.)

by Rev. George Patterson, ''Madras Christian College Magazine'' (1884)

by Franz Hartmann, reprinted from ''Report of the Result of an Investigation into the Charges against Madame Blavatsky Brought by the Missionaries of the Scottish Free Church of Madras, and Examined by a Committee Appointed for That Purpose by the General Council of the Theosophical Society'', 1885, pp. 139–144.

by Emma Coulomb, from "The Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Phenomena connected with the Theosophical Society," ''Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research'', 1885.

ch. 13 in ''H. P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement'', by Charles J. Ryan, 1937 Helena Blavatsky Theosophical Society

See also

Literature

External links