Kathleen Goligher (born 1898) was an Irish spiritualist

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 ...

. Goligher was endorsed by engineer William Jackson Crawford who wrote three books about her. She was exposed as a

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

by physicist

Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe (1868 – 29 June 1933, St. Albans, UK) was an Ireland, Irish physicist, astrophysicist and chemist. He was a university professor and distinguished himself in the study and popularization of electromagnetism, as wel ...

in 1921.

Investigations

Goligher was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. She held

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 in her own home with seven of her family members. The psychical researcher and engineer William Jackson Crawford (1881–1920) investigated the mediumship of Goligher and claimed she had levitated the table and produced ectoplasm. Crawford in his books developed the "Cantilever Theory of Levitation" due to his experiments with Goligher. According to his theory the table was levitated by "

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 ...

rods" of ectoplasm which came out of the body of the medium to operate as an invisible

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

. Crawford took flashlight photographs of the substance, which he described as "plasma". Crawford investigated Goligher's mediumship at her house for six years before his death. Crawford's photographs of Goligher showed that the ectoplasm frequently issued from her

vagina In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular sex organ, reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The #Vag ...

. There were no

scientific control A scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the independent variable (i.e. confounding variables). This increases the reliability of the results, often through a comparison betwe ...

s in the Crawford's séances with Goligher. She and her family members had their hands and legs free at all times. After Crawford's death the physicist

investigated the medium Goligher at twenty sittings and arrived at the opposite conclusion to Crawford. According to d'Albe no ectoplasm or levitation had occurred with Goligher, and he stated he had found evidence of fraud. On 22 July 1921 he observed Goligher holding the table with her foot. He also discovered that the "ectoplasm" substance in the photographs of Crawford was

muslin Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It is commonly believed that it gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq. Muslin was produced in different regions o ...

. During a séance d'Albe had observed white muslin between Goligher's feet. In a letter to

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

, d'Albe wrote "I must say I was greatly surprised at Crawford's blindness." Houdini, Harry. (2011 edition, originally published 1924). ''A Magician Among the Spirits''. Cambridge University Press. p. 176. The conclusion from d'Albe was that the Goligher family were involved in the mediumship trickery and had duped Crawford. D'Albe published ''The Goligher Circle'' in 1922 which exposed the fraudulent mediumship of Goligher. Because of the exposure, she retired from mediumship in the same year.

Critical evaluation

Crawford's experiments were criticized by scientists for their inadequate controls and lack of precaution against fraud. Prince, Morton. (1919). ''Review of Experiments in Psychical Science, by W. J. Crawford.'' ''

Journal of Abnormal Psychology The ''Journal of Abnormal Psychology'' (formerly ''Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology'' and ''Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association (AP ...

'' 14: 355-361. Physician

Morton Prince Morton Henry Prince (December 22, 1854 – August 31, 1929) was an American physician who specialized in neurology and abnormal psychology, and was a leading force in establishing psychology as a clinical and academic discipline. He was part ...

in the ''

'' noted that Crawford's psychic rod hypothesis "fails to account for much and cannot be reconciled with what is scientifically known as matter, or force, or electricity, or energy." A review in the ''

Journal of Applied Psychology The ''Journal of Applied Psychology'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal emphasizes the publication of original investigations that contribute new knowledge and understandin ...

'' suggested that Crawford does "not seem to have been able to avoid self-deception, and his experiments are not convincing." Psychical researcher

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 ...

noted that the photographs taken by Crawford look "dubious in appearance" and that "with rare exceptions, no other investigators had an opportunity to check-up his results, since outsiders were rarely admitted to the sittings." The surgeon

Charles Marsh Beadnell Surgeon Rear-Admiral Charles Marsh Beadnell, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (17 February 1872 – 27 September 1947), best known as C. Marsh Beadnell, was a British surgeon and Royal Navy officer.Anonymous. (1947)"Surgeon Rear-Admiral C. M. ...

published a booklet in 1920 that debunked the experiments. He also offered a cash prize to any medium who could produce a single levitation under controlled conditions. Physician Bryan Donkin studied the Crawford experiments and called attention to "the superabundant exposure of the massive credulity and total defect of logical power displayed by Dr. Crawford," who gives "the most pathetic picture of a willing victim of pernicious deception". Psychologist

Joseph Jastrow Joseph Jastrow (January 30, 1863 – January 8, 1944) was a Polish-born American psychologist renowned for his contributions to experimental psychology, design of experiments, and psychophysics. He also worked on the phenomena of optical illu ...

criticized the Crawford experiments as unscientific and wrote that "the minute detail of apparatus and all the paraphernalia of an engineering experiment which fills the Crawford books must ever remain an amazing document in the story of the metapsychic. As proof of what prepossession can do to a trained mind the case is invaluable."

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". Becom ...

suggested that Goligher had used her feet and toes to levitate the table and move objects in the séance room and compared her fraudulent mediumship to Eusapia Palladino, who performed similar tricks. Edward Clodd also dismissed the experiments as fraudulent and noted that Goligher refused invitation to be examined by a group of magicians and scientists. Researchers such as Ruth Brandon and Mary Roach have heavily criticized Crawford's investigation, describing him as credulous and having a sexual interest in Goligher, such as an obsession with her

underwear Underwear, underclothing, or undergarments are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer clothing from being soiled ...

. Roach, Mary. (2010). '' Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife''. Canongate Books Ltd. pp. 110–116. Crawford held a deep fixation on underwear; for example, psychical researcher

Theodore Besterman Theodore Deodatus Nathaniel Besterman (22 November 1904 – 10 November 1976) was a Polish-born British psychical researcher, bibliographer, biographer, and translator. In 1945 he became the first editor of the '' Journal of Documentation''. Fro ...

noted that before his suicide, Crawford "spent all his money (consequently leaving nothing) on a stack of woollen underwear for his family, sufficient to last for several years."

Susan Blackmore Susan Jane Blackmore (born 29 July 1951) is a British writer, lecturer, sceptic, broadcaster, and a visiting professor at the University of Plymouth. Her fields of research include memetics, parapsychology, consciousness, and she is best known f ...

claimed that

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 ...

, an eccentric researcher interested in paranormal phenomena, told her around 1980 that Crawford had confessed before his death that all the Goligher phenomena were fraudulent. Blackmore, Susan. (1988). ''The Adventures of a Parapsychologist''. Prometheus Books. p. 211.

Investigations

Critical evaluation

See also

References

Further reading