Charles Bailey (1870–1947) was an Australian apport medium who was exposed as a fraud.Irwin, Harvey J; Watt, Caroline. (2007). ''An Introduction to Parapsychology, 5th ed''. McFarland. pp. 24-26.

Career

Bailey was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He worked as a bootmaker and became a famous apport

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 ...

. He claimed with the help of his

spirit guide A spirit guide, in Western spiritualism, is an entity that remains as a discarnate spirit to act as a guide or protector to a living incarnated human being. Description In traditional African belief systems, well before the spread of Christ ...

"Abdul" that he could apport live items such as

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

, crabs, turtles,

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s, stones and antiques in the séance room. In 1910, Bailey was exposed as a fraud in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, France. He produced two live birds but was unaware that the dealer who he had bought the birds from was present in the séance. According to

Joseph McCabe Joseph Martin McCabe (12 November 1867 – 10 January 1955) was an English writer and speaker on freethought, after having been a Roman Catholic priest earlier in his life. He was "one of the great mouthpieces of freethought in England". Becomin ...

before the séance he had hidden the birds in the "unpleasant end of his alimentary canal". McCabe, Joseph. (1920). ''Is Spiritualism Based On Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined''. London Watts & Co. p. 90 Bailey was endorsed by

Thomas Welton Stanford Thomas Welton Stanford (1832–1918), also known as Welton Stanford, was an American-born Australian businessman, spiritualist and philanthropist, most notably toward Stanford University, which was founded by his older brother Leland Stanford. A ...

a wealthy spiritualist who had help fund the psychical research programme at Stanford University.Asprem, Egil. (2014). ''The Problem of Disenchantment: Scientific Naturalism and Esoteric Discourse, 1900-1939''. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 355-360. He was also supported by the spiritualist Arthur Conan Doyle. However, most psychical researchers dismissed Bailey as fraudulent. The psychologist John Edgar Coover held strong doubts about Bailey and noted he been exposed as a fraud several times, most notably by 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 ...

. He was notable for producing apports of ancient tablets and other antiquities during his séances. Some of these were examined by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

who concluded they were forgeries. Bailey was further exposed at a séance in 1914 in Sydney when a sitter pulled the drapery off a materialized "spirit".

References

External links

Spiritualism and Fraud Bailey, the Bird-bringer, Bumped
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey (medium), Charles 1870 births 1947 deaths People from Melbourne Spiritual mediums

Career

References

Further reading

External links