Francis Henry Everard Joseph Feilding (6 March 1867 – 8 February 1936) best known as Everard Feilding was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, naval intelligence officer and psychical researcher.

Career

As a teenager, Feilding worked as a midshipman for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

during the Egyptian campaign in 1882. He was educated at Oscott College and attended

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1887, he obtained his bachelors of law degree in 1890.Kaczynski, Richard. (2010). ''Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Life of Aleister Crowley''. North Atlantic Books. pp. 187–188. Feilding was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, he began his interest in psychical research from his visit to

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

in 1892. He was secretary 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 condu ...

from 1903 to 1920. His father was

Rudolph Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh, 7th Earl of Desmond (9 April 1823 – 10 March 1892), styled as Viscount Feilding until 1865, was a British peer and noted Roman Catholic convert, who founded the Franciscan friary at Pantas ...

and his brother Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh. A pioneer of rubber planting in Malaya, he was chairman of Kuala Lumpur Rubber Company in 1906. Feilding served as a lieutenant in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

(RNVR) and worked for the

British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intell ...

Staff in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

(1915–1919). Feilding married the psychic medium Stanisława Tomczyk in 1919. It is alleged by biographers that he was a friend of the occultist

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

. Psychical researcher

Eric Dingwall Eric John Dingwall (1890–1986) was a British anthropologist, psychical researcher and librarian. Biography Born in British Ceylon, Dingwall moved to England where he was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (M.A., 1912), and the Univ ...

wrote that Feilding was a "member of one of the most distinguished Catholic families in England" and was "one of the most acute investigators of alleged supernormal phenomena that this country has ever produced."

Feilding report

Feilding is best-known for his investigation of the Italian medium Eusapia Palladino. In 1908, the SPR appointed a committee of three to examine her in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. The committee consisted of W. W. Baggally,

Hereward Carrington Hereward Carrington (17 October 1880 – 26 December 1958) was an American investigator of psychic phenomena and author. His subjects included several of the most high-profile cases of apparent psychic ability of his times, and he wrote over 100 ...

and Everard Feilding.

Frank Podmore Frank Podmore (5 February 1856 – 14 August 1910) was an English author and founding member of the Fabian Society as well as an influential member of the Society for Psychical Research. He is known for his interest in spiritualism, which he eve ...

. (1910)
''The Newer Spiritualism''
Henry Holt and Company. pp. 114–44 Although the investigators caught Palladino cheating during the

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 ...

s, they were convinced Palladino had produced genuine

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

phenomena such as levitations of the table, movement of the curtains, movement of objects from behind the curtain and touches from hands. In 1909, all three investigators wrote a report on the medium in the ''Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research''. The report became known as the "Feilding report" and has been a source of debate between psychical researchers and sceptics.

in his book ''The Newer Spiritualism'' (1910) wrote a comprehensive critique of their report. Podmore said that the report provided insufficient information for crucial moments and the investigators representation of the witness accounts contained contradictions and inconsistencies as to who was holding Palladino's feet and hands. Podmore found that the accounts among the investigators conflicted as to who they claimed to have observed the incident. Podmore wrote that the report "at almost every point leaves obvious loopholes for trickery." The psychologist C. E. M. Hansel criticised the report based on the conditions of the séances being susceptible to trickery. Hansel noted that they were performed in semi-dark conditions, held in the late night or early morning introducing the possibility of

fatigue Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a signs and symptoms, symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself. Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated wit ...

and the "investigators had a strong belief in the supernatural, hence they would be emotionally involved." Hansel, C. E. M. (1980). ''ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Re-Evaluation''. Prometheus Books. pp. 60–61. Although originally convinced of her alleged powers, Feilding attended séances with Palladino in 1910 with the magician William S. Marriott and concluded her mediumship was fraudulent.

Paul Kurtz Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientific skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Bu ...

has noted that "Skeptic's question the first Feilding report because in a subsequent test by Feilding and other tests by scientists, Palladino had been caught cheating."

Abbé Vachère case

In 1914, Feilding with

Maud Gonne Maud Gonne MacBride (, born Edith Maud Gonne); 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. She was of Anglo-Irish descent and was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of people evict ...

and

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

visited Mirebeau to investigate an alleged miracle of a bleeding oleograph that was in the possession of priest Abbé Vachère. Feilding took a blood sample to the

Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, informally known as the Lister Institute, was established as a research institute (the British Institute of Preventive Medicine) in 1891, with bacteriologist Marc Armand Ruffer as its first director, ...

. They concluded that it was not human blood. In 1915, Feilding returned to Mirebeau. He made several visits to Vachère's home. Nickell, Joe. (1993). ''Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures''. Prometheus Books. pp. 59–60. The oleograph had been placed in his chapel. Feilding found that it was wet but he did not directly observe the picture to have bled. As a test, he locked the chapel door and placed a slip of paper in the hinge. He discovered hours later that although the picture was wet, the paper had been dislodged. The evidence was negative but Feilding did not believe Vachère was guilty of deception. In 1920, Feilding and his wife visited Vachère. This time he alleged that a small statue of Jesus in the chapel had also bled. Feilding and his wife investigated this claim. His wife suspected that Vachère sprinkled water on the picture from a small pot she found behind some flowers in the room. Feilding took a blood sample and this time the results showed it was human blood. He did not come to any definite conclusion but because of the evidence suggestive of fraud, sceptics have dismissed the case as a hoax.

Other investigations

Feilding was a friend of the neurologist

Henry Head Sir Henry Head, FRS (4 August 1861 – 8 October 1940) was an English neurologist who conducted pioneering work into the somatosensory system and sensory nerves. Much of this work was conducted on himself, in collaboration with the psychiatri ...

who he attempted to get involved with psychical research.Jacyna, L. S. (2016). ''Medicine and Modernism: A Biography of Henry Head''. Routledge. pp. 57–58. He invited Head to a "ghost hunt" at an alleged haunted house known as "Pickpocket Hall" on his brother's estate in Pantasaph. He wrote in a letter to Wilfrid Meynell that they spent a few nights in the derelict house but the result was a failure. He also persuaded Head to investigate the shrines at Lourdes in the summer of 1895. Feilding with W. W. Baggally exposed the materialization medium Christopher Chambers as a fraud in 1905. A false moustache was discovered in the séance room which he used to fabricate the spirit materialisations. In 1911, Feilding attended two séance sittings with the medium Etta Wriedt. He suspected that the phenomena may have been fraudulent. He was "specifically excluded" from attending further séances with Wriedt. Wolman, Benjamin. (1977). ''Handbook of Parapsychology''. Van Nostrand. p. 314.

Publications

Books *''Sittings with Eusapia Palladino and Other Studies'' (1963) Papers * Baggally, W. W; Feilding, Everard; Johnson, Alice. (1906)
''Sittings with Mr Chambers''
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 12: 197-203. * Baggally, W. W; Carington, Hereward; Feilding, Everard. (1909). ''Report on a Series of Sittings with Eusapia Palladino''. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 23: 309-569. *Feilding, Everard; Marriott, William S. (1910)
''Report on Further Series of Sittings with Eusapia Palladino at Naples''
Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 15: 20-32. *Feilding, Everard; Johnson, Alice. (1914)
''Report on Some Experiments in Thought-Transference''
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 16: 164-167. *Feilding, Everard. (1915)
''Note on the English Sittings with Miss Tomczyk''
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 17: 28-31. *Fielding, Everard. (1922)
''An Experiment in Faking "Spirit" Photographs''
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 20: 219-223. *Feilding, Everard. (1930)

(1930). Transactions of the Fourth International Congress for Psychical Research. *Feilding, Everard. (1932)
''More Alleged Occurrences of the Rope Trick''
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 27: 281-286.

Career

Feilding report

Abbé Vachère case

Other investigations

Publications

References

Further reading