Rosina Thompson (born, 1868) was a British trance

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

. Thompson worked as a medium at Hertford Lodge in Battersea, London. She came to the attention 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 co ...

and performed

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spea ...

experiments for them from 1898 onward. Thompson was originally a physical medium, however as physical mediumship was exposed as fraudulent the psychical researcher

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" ...

persuaded Thompson to take up trance mediumship. Some psychical researchers were not impressed with her mediumship as it was discovered that her

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

s were not genuine. Richard Hodgson had six sittings with Thompson and came to the conclusion she was a fraud. Hodgson claimed that Thompson had access to documents and information about her séance sitters. The medium

Leonora Piper Leonora Piper (née Leonora Evelina Simonds; 27 June 1857 – 3 June 1950) was a famous American trance medium in the area of Spiritualism. Piper was the subject of intense interest and investigation by American and British psychic research associ ...

was described as an American counterpart to Thompson. According to

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

after the death of Frederic Myers, Piper claimed to receive messages from Myers for his widow. The messages were warnings that Thompson was a fraudulent medium.

. (1986). ''Essays in Psychical Research''. Harvard University Press. p. 423. In spiritualist literature, Thompson has been referred to by other aliases such as Rosalie Thompson and Mrs. Edmund Thompson.

References

{{Spiritualism and spiritism 1868 births Year of death missing English spiritual mediums People from Battersea