SupernatFordArthur

The famous American spiritualist, the Reverend Arthur Ford, discovered his psychic powers in 1924, during a meditation session with Swami Yogananda. While in a trance he started to speak with a French accent which he recognised as the voice of "Fletcher" a childhood playmate who had been killed in World War I. Fletcher became Ford’s spirit guide or control and in 1927, at the behest of Sir Conan Doyle, Ford became a professional medium.

His greatest claim to fame came in January 1929, when during a seance, he supposedly contacted the late Harry Houdini. Spiritualists were naturally jubilant for if anything on earth would prove that spirit communication was possible this was it. Before Houdini died he had arranged with his wife Bessie a code, with the understanding that unless these specific words - pray, answer, say, now, tell, please, speak, quickly, look, be quick - were used, then any spirit message purporting to come from him was not genuine. The news that Bess Houdini had called Walter Winchell the New York columnist and told him that the great Arthur Ford had received this message astounded everyone. Bess subsequently retracted the statement saying that there was no evidence of any communication with her husband.

Despite Bess Houdini’s retraction and disclosure, Arthur Ford continued to insist that he had contacted Houdini encouraging further credence in spiritualism and mediumship.

Comment:

Channelers claim that when in a trance they have no knowledge of what they are saying. Ford however contradicts this by saying that he recognized the voice of a childhood playmate.

It seems that the code referred to had already appeared in print the previous year when Bess Houdini had written a biography of her husband included in which were the code words.

Ford was known to keep files of information on likely clients which he put to good use as a mental medium. Conan Doyle was an ardent believer in spiritualism and easily persuaded. He encouraged anyone likely to promote his beliefs.

Further reading:

Dunninger, Joseph. 1935. Inside the Medium’s Cabinet. David Kemp, New York.

________________ 1968. Houdini’s Spirit World and Dunninger’s Psychic Revelations. Tower Books, New York.

Kurtz, Paul, 1985. A Skeptic’s Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York.