The First Full Light Seance (from Voices in the Dark)

This photo is from A Journey of Psychic Discovery (2012 revised edition) by Alan E. Crossley: "A test seance with Leslie Flint in the Kingsway Hall, London in 1946.  The cabinet with the microphone in front of it is immediately behind those seated on the raised platform.  At the table are (from left) Lord Dowding, Percy Wilson, Abdy Collins and Harold Vigurs.  Noah Zerdin is at the microphone."

Leslie Flint's customary Direct Voice seances were held in darkness with a limited number of sitters due to the size of the room in Flint's residence.  These restrictions were surmounted after Noah Zerdin and his circle devised a specially constructed cabinet for Flint to sit inside during seances.  Eventually the experiments with the cabinet were so successful that the first public seance was held at the fully lit Kingsway Hall with more than 1,000 people in attendance.  The following excerpts from the tenth chapter of Flint's autobiography Voices in the Dark (1971) describe the event and concludes with Flint mentioning that he heard at another public seance an oration about a great plan of spiritual enlightenment for humanity.

On the big night Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding introduced me to the audience and asked them to accept his personal assurance that no fraud would take place.  The cabinet, about seven feet high and four feet square, was placed in the centre of the platform where it could be seen by everyone in the audience.  Those at the extreme ends of the gallery could probably see all round it.  The four sides of the cabinet were covered in with tarpaulin to ensure no light could enter and I sat inside on an ordinary chair.  In front of the cabinet at a distance of eighteen to twenty inches stood a microphone and the members of the Zerdin circle sat round it in the form of an ellipse with the cabinet as focal point.  In these conditions, under the full glare of the hall's lighting the huge audience was given a demonstration of the independent direct voice comparable to those experienced as a rule only by small groups sitting in privacy.

Mickey's clear Cockney voice was the first to be heard that evening and since it seems to be part of his function to put people at their ease before a seance he raised a laugh by saying perkily, "Proper crowd 'ere tonight, ain't there?  I expect a lot of 'em don't know much about this kind of thing but I'll do my best for 'em!" and from then on he did indeed.

The first visitor from the other side gave his name as Roy Marchant and was acknowledged by his parents in the audience.  "Hello, Mother!  Hello, Dad," said Roy excitedly.  "I want you to know I am not dead, I'm marvellously alive and I send all my love to you and to baby."  His parents replied affectionately.  Then Roy thanked his mother for a children's party she had given for his child.  "Don't think of me as being a long way off," he went on.  "I'm not.  I am often with you, I was with you in Switzerland!  There isn't any real separation."

The next communicator gave her name as Gladys Richmond and spoke to a man in the front of the audience pleading to be forgiven for some misunderstanding between them when she was on earth.  "I'm sorry about everything," she said, "it was an accident — you do believe that, don't you?"  The man assured her he both believed and understood.  "I'm so happy you understand," said Gladys, "and that you realise I love you and one day we will be together again.  You often read that last letter I wrote to you before I went to Scotland, I can see you reading it."

"I feel like an interloper, but I hope you won't mind," came the voice of a woman.  "I am Stella Patrick Campbell and I want to introduce Leslie Howard to you."  There was a rustle of expectancy throughout the auditorium.  Leslie Howard, the famous actor, had been killed three years before when his unarmed plane was shot down by a German fighter and his death had been widely mourned.

A cultured masculine voice was heard.  "God bless you!  I am happy to be able to come and speak to you in this way.  Many of you do not perhaps understand fully that there is no death.  Those of us over here who come in this way, come to guide and help you, to try to uplift you.  Spirit guidance does not cease, that which happened two thousand years ago has happened through the centuries and it is still happening today.  I went to meetings like this when I was on earth and I found great comfort and interest.  I was not, perhaps, a Spiritualist but certainly I believed in man's survival of death."  

'Leslie Howard' then conversed with Phyllis James, the actor's former secretary who was present in the audience.  There are noticeable synchronicities and metaphorical correlations with this succession of communicators.  Concerning 'Stella Patrick Campbell,' Lynn Russell in her book about her experiences as a Flint seance participant The Voice of Valentino (1975) mentioned discovering one communicator voice was that of  'Mrs. Patrick Campbell.'  This was the famous actress who’d inspired George Bernard Shaw to write "Pygmalion" and then went on to originate the role of Eliza Doolittle — the play's title referring to a character in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a sculptor who fell in love with his creation and found her endowed with life by the goddess Venus.  Mrs. Patrick Campbell’s maiden name was Beatrice Stella Tanner.  Although Leslie Howard is today perhaps most often remembered for his role in "Gone With The Wind," the actor starred in the 1938 movie version of "Pygmalion."  Considering the last part of the name Campbell, many previous blog articles present examples of 'the Bell pattern' in cases of unexplained phenomena (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.).  Other blog articles have indicated the significance of the 'Michael Pattern' (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, etc.)

Flint wrote that one of the most touching contacts of the evening began very quietly with Mickey saying:

"I want to speak to the lady all in grey at the back because her boy's here.  He was in the navy.  His name is Jim."  A woman at the very back of the gallery called: "Is it for me?"  The moment her voice was heard, suddenly and loudly came the pathetic cry: "Mum!  Mum!  I'm so glad you've come!"  "Darling, darling!" was all the mother could reply.  "I'm not dead you know," Jim assured her anxiously, "I'm all right!"  In trying to bring conviction Jim's anxiety increased.  "I wasn't drowned.  I'm ALIVE!"  The shouted word rang through the hall, fraught with the pain of not knowing whether the comfort he sought to bring would be fully understood.  Mickey intervened at this point to provide the anticlimax which restored a smile to every face.  "Jim's a darned sight more alive than you are, lady, I'll tell you!"

When the seance was nearly over a woman's voice was heard speaking in the cultured and precise dictation so familiar to my own home circle, the voice of Ellen Terry.  "Ladies and gentlemen," she said, "I was asked to come and speak here tonight for a few moments though I know too well many have more proficiency than I.  For all of you who have faith in the spirit and the surety of knowledge that life continues after death there is no reason why you should not develop the great gifts of the spirit in your own homes.  Sometimes you may get despondent and depressed and feel you are not making sufficient progress; we help you from our side all we can though we cannot say how long individual development will take.  With some it takes years, with others it comes very quickly if they persevere; but have faith, sit in sincerity of spirit and use your gifts to serve mankind.  The aftermath of war has left the world in chaos, more than ever will you be needed to transmit the help that can come from our side of life.  Man's ignorance and selfishness has brought great suffering to mankind, and people say, 'Why does God allow these things?' but God gave you free will.  Search to find a link with those in spirit and remember the promise of Jesus when you sit, 'Lo, I am with you always.'  Go forward in strength and know that you, too, will be serving.  Be his servants, His children, and it will bring to you the peace which is everlasting."

With these words the first big public demonstration of the independent direct voice held in full light came to an end; it had been successful beyond all our hopes and it was only the first of many more I was to give not only in London but in the largest halls all over the country, and I felt more than ever assured that my life was to be devoted to comforting those who mourn and giving certainty to those seeking to know what lies beyond the illusion we call death.


At another demonstration in full light, this time at the La Scala Theatre, London, a voice purporting to be that of John Wesley delivered a wonderful oration in which he told the audience of the spirit world's plan to bring light to our darkened world and to spread the truth of life after death.

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Some instances of 'the Bell pattern' mentioned in last week's blog article are:

     bell tower

          Isabell

               Campbellite

                    bell tones

                         beloved

                               Isabella

                                   bellman

                                        Bell Hill