On the evening of October 31, 1991, (Halloween), for the first time in my life I attended a “sitting”, at the Spiritualist Association’s London headquarters. I arrived very early, shortly after six for seven o’clock, bought a ticket and a copy of Psychic News, and went downstairs for a coffee to kill time. Tickets are usually two pounds, but tonight’s was a double sitting, featuring the undoubted talents of “psychic artist” Coral Polge and her helper and fellow psychic/medium, Bill Landis. Mrs Polge is certainly a talented artist, at least that is the verdict of a thirty-five year old whose most earnest attempts to draw portraits resemble those of a four year old’s matchstick men. Whether or not you think she is a talented spirit medium depends on how gullible you are; I’m not that gullible any more, in fact, I never was.
The show (for that was what it was) started at just after 7pm. An old biddy who looked ancient enough to have sailed on Noah’s Ark collected the tickets and introduced the two sitters, then, after they had introduced themselves, our two mediums led the audience in prayer, (oh boy). It was the usual crap about seeking spiritual enlightenment.
About seventy people were present, the overwhelming majority of them women, but most of them were not, I’m happy to say, over seventy. Indeed, there were several young and extremely attractive females present. (I’ll certainly go again; maybe I’ll even become a medium!)
Before she kicked off, Mrs Polge warned that sometimes it’s not only close relatives and friends who come through, it can be in-laws, neighbours, and, presumably, friends of neighbours’ in-laws. Also, grannies sometimes choose to come back as teenagers. The first spirit to come through, Joan, when she manifested through Mr Landis, went one better than that. She brought her cat with her!
Joan had a bit of a conversation with him, but Mrs Polge’s drawing didn’t ring any bells with any members of the audience, and the generalities grew more and more vague.
The drawing of a young man (who had apparently passed on recently), was said to have a lot of acquaintances on this Earth, which is hardly surprising. Then there was an old man named Jack. A connection was made here with a young man in the audience, but he rejected the idea that a birthday was coming up soon. Mr Landis then suggested again that the birthday was very soon...in December. I suppose that on October 31st, December can be interpreted as very soon, but whose birthday it was meant to be was not specified, and in any case, there was still no hit.
An old lady with a hat (yes, they wear hats in the spirit world) didn’t resemble anyone recently departed, but, without wishing to sound in any way facetious, I though she looked remarkably like Lech Walesa. The way Mrs Polge shaded the woman’s face gave the impression that she had a moustache, but no one else seemed to notice that, or any other resemblance, though one young girl in the audience couldn’t be sure.
The sitting lasted just over an hour, and though Mrs Polge’s drawings were very artistic, and could undoubtedly have been real people, deceased or extant, the performance was totally unconvincing. Except for one young man for whom one of the ectoplasmic visitors was a direct hit. The accuracy of the information given him by Mr Landis was uncanny. In fact, for me it was a bit too accurate and a bit too convincing.
The drawing concerned was of a young man who the young man in the audience had apparently worked with on a ship, where they both wore blue uniforms. He seemed very enthusiastic and agreed emphatically with most of the nonsense that Mr Landis trotted out. This rang a bell, and when I got home I referred immediately to James Randi: Psychic Investigator; I had been sent a review copy of this excellent book by the publisher prior to the screening of the TV series on which it is based. Sure enough, although Mrs Polge had worked with another assistant on the Randi show, a man named Stephen O’Brien, the skeptical (and cynical) Randi and his team had identified a similar respondent as “a professional spirit medium”. I am sure that I will recognise the young man at the sitting I attended if I ever see him again, and I won’t be too surprised if it is at a sitting hosted by either Mrs Polge or Mr Landis. (4)
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