Colin Evans () was an early 20th-century Welsh spiritualist medium who claimed to have the ability to levitate but was discovered to be a fraud.

Levitation

In a flash-illuminated picture taken at a

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

in Wortley Hall,

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in Harringay, north London, England. The park lies on the southern-most edge of the London Borough of Haringey. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal ...

in 1937 Evans can be seen "levitating" in mid-air. He claimed that the spirits had lifted him. Evans was later discovered to be a fraud, as a cord leading from a device in his hand indicated that he had triggered the flash-photograph himself and that all he had done was jump from his chair into the air and pretend he had levitated. He performed in complete darkness so that sitters in the séance could not see what he was doing. Magicians have pointed out that Evans's blurred feet in the photographs are proof that he simply jumped high into the air. During another séance held at North Gate Mansions,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

in 1938, Evans performed the same trick. The attendees were not happy and he had to return the money to those who had paid him.

Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British Parapsychologist, psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent Spiritualism (movement), spiritu ...

. (1939). ''Fifty Years of Psychical Research''. p. 199

References

External links

Levitation Secret Revealed (70 years ago)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Colin Welsh fraudsters Welsh spiritual mediums Year of birth missing Year of death missing