Doris Collins (1918-2003) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

spiritualist Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least ...

and

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

Biography

Collins was born on 10 February 1918 in

Essex, England Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and was the youngest of a family of nine children. From a young age Collins claimed to be able to see spirits a

ability she said to have throughout her life. She attended a Spiritualist church and in 1958 became the president of Woodford National Spiritualist Church in Essex. She became a resident at the

Spiritualist Association of Great Britain The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain (the SAGB) is a British spiritualist organisation. It was established on 10 July 1872. History The SAGB grew out of the Marylebone Spiritualist Association (founded 1872). The story of the associat ...

and made trips to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and toured

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

offering her mediumship services to people for money. She wrote three books on Spiritualism ''A Woman of Spirit'' (1985), ''The Power Within'' (1988) and ''Positive Forces'' (1991).

Skepticism

Collins has been described as a cold reader by the

scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many "working group, sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional acti ...

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.#Rodrigues, Rodrig ...

examined a videotape of her mediumship from one of her shows and caught her cold reading.

. (1997). ''An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural''. St. Martin's Griffin.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Doris 1918 births 2003 deaths English spiritual mediums