Theos-Talk Archives (November 2003 Message tt00203)

PHYSICAL PHENOMENA AT THE DAVID THOMPSON SÉANCE OF OCTOBER 25TH, 2003

Montague Keen

THIS IS an account of an unusual séance at which a variety of 
movements and touches, noises and voices were experienced in 
circumstances which appeared to preclude fraud. I give in 
considerable detail the precautions taken before and during the 
séance and conclude, despite reasonable familiarity with the past 
history of comparable demonstrations, that the effects were genuine.

THE LOCATION AND SET-UP 

The sitting took place in the home of Denzil Fairbairn (DF) in 
Chalgrove, Oxfordshire on Saturday October 25th, 2003. My attendance was 
consequent on a personal introduction, supported by a good personal relationship 
of trust with Mr Fairbairn, following his 
important evidential contribution to the Scole Report (Keen et al, 
1999). Together with my wife and myself, and DF, it was attended by 
Paul, the séance leader, David Thompson the medium, his wife
Bianca and about ten or twelve others. 

The room was in a small block a few feet from DF's bungalow, and
was entered via an anteroom where all those attending were asked to 
leave behind loose jewellery, handbags, watches, pens, wallets, 
money: indeed anything which could be detached. For this purpose 
everyone was searched, although I was allowed to bring in a notebook 
and pen, which was left under the chair of my immediate neighbour, 
Paul, until he had an opportunity during the séance to ask whether 
permission would be granted by Spirit for me to use it during the 
séance (it was duly granted, but the pen could not easily be found 
in the darkness; so the idea was abandoned). I searched David 
Thompson and ascertained there was nothing in any trousers pocket or 
concealed on his singlet, over which he wore a cardigan which I 
searched separately before he replaced it. I also checked his 
trainer-type shoes to ascertain that the heels and soles were normal 
and unified.

There was only one door into the séance room, which had no
windows, was perfectly rectangular except for a recess at one end of 
the room (4'0"x 2'0"x7'0" high) which formed the back half of the 
cabinet, and was devoid of ornaments or recesses. It measured 
roughly 15'0"x9'6", and at one end carried a rectangular ceiling 
rail from which three floor-length black curtains were suspended by 
Velcro straps of curtaining material, so that the curtains could be 
opened and closed from both sides. This, along with the recess, 
constituted the cabinet. The room was seamlessly carpeted 
throughout. Apart from the entrance door from the anteroom, there 
were no detectable orifices beyond five small vents in the ceiling 
and three low-level vents along one wall, vented to the outside. 
Moulded plastic seats were placed around all the walls save the 
cabinet end. Two of the seats blocked the entrance door, and that 
occupied by my wife obstructed the door from being opened.

BINDING AND GAGGING THE MEDIUM 

The chair (owned by DF) in which the medium sat was an old-fashioned 
upholstered, heavy, wooden construction which I examined carefully, 
having regard to a claim by the magician Ian Rowland, when 
commenting on television on Thompson's reputed feats, that this 
could be done by illusionists when the ends of the chair arms were 
not securely connected to the posts, thereby enabling the medium to 
raise his arms from the post and slip the cable ties off his arms: a 
suggestion I examine later. I could find no loose connections, and 
was unable to move the arms or see or feel anything abnormal 
underneath the chair.

The chair was placed inside the open cabinet, and the medium was 
strapped into it by means of plastic tree ties. This was effected by 
Bianca under my close supervision. I was invited to examine the ties 
which were already permanently fixed to the legs and arms of the 
chair, both before and after the fixing. The straps were placed 
through these permanent fixings, and pulled tight, and then secured 
with thin plastic ties with the ends trimmed off, so that the only 
way to release the bond was to cut it. The straps were so tightly 
pulled that I was unable to intrude even a finger. Indeed, the 
medium subsequently was heard to complain that his wife had been so 
enthusiastic as to cause him discomfort. Bianca tied a black gag 
securely round the medium's head through his open mouth, thereby 
preventing recognisable speech. I examined the gag and the knot 
behind the head. Finally the several buttons on the front of 
medium's cardigan were tied into the buttonholes with thin black 
strips of plastic. These are one-way (self-locking) cable ties, 
incapable of being untied. They have to be cut before a button can 
be released.

INSTRUMENTS AND EQUIPMENT 

On the floor a few feet in front of the medium there was a black 
coated piece of board, about 3'6" by 2'. After I had checked 
underneath (prompted by Mr. Fairbairn) to satisfy myself that 
nothing was concealed below it, the following items were placed on 
it: a cardboard trumpet, the end of which was coated with luminous 
paint; a mouth organ; a rattle, and two drum sticks, all of which 
were to play a part in the séance. In addition there was a pair of 
pliers which were employed by Bianca to cut the ties to release her 
husband after the sitting, and two wooden rings which were brought 
into the room from the anteroom at the medium's request by DF
after my wife had taken a number of photographs. 

A microphone (Optimus 33-3013) was suspended from the wall near the 
door, the other end being connected to a Sony personal tape recorder 
located on a small table next to DF. The machine was switched on by 
him and the cassette tape turned over after it had automatically 
switched off on reaching the end of one side. Copies of the tape 
recording were freely available to any participant requesting it by 
sending a blank tape to DF. The only other equipment was a small 
flexible table lamp with a red bulb and fixed shade. It was placed 
on a small table in the corner on the medium's left, outside the 
curtain, together with a glass of water. In the opposite corner was 
a large tape recorder playing music. The light was controlled by 
Paul who sat alongside me, while the music player was the 
responsibility of Bianca, who had to make frequent changes in the 
music played and the volume requested, at the behest of spirit 
communicators. Both Paul's hands held my right hand throughout
the séance, save for about five minutes when they were needed to
switch on and manoeuvre the light during the brief period when 
ectoplasmic extrusions were being shown.

Before the séance, when all participants were seated on cushioned 
chairs against the three walls, Paul enjoined everyone to remain 
still, not to grasp at anything unless permission was sought and 
granted. He explained the dangers to which the medium was exposed 
should anyone make an unauthorised grab at any ectoplasmic 
extension, and emphasised the importance of keeping our arms still: 
advice echoed and amplified by communicators in response to 
questions later. The lights were then dimmed to disappearance. The 
light switch knob was removed from the wall-mounted dimmer switch, 
and the remainder of the box was taped over by DF. 

The séance began with a short prayer offered by one of the
sitters. This was followed not by normally rousing music but, rather 
to my surprise, by Pachelbel's canon, to which we were invited to 
sing along, and then, no less surprisingly, by the distinctly 
menacing dance of the courtiers from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.
Thereafter more popular music was played, but frequently altered in 
volume at the behest of one or other communicator.

At the end of the sitting, following the withdrawal of the final 
communicator, DF stripped the sealer tape from the light switch and 
restored the dimmer switch knob to enable the light to be slowly 
turned up. It revealed David Thompson still tied to his chair, and 
gagged, in the middle of the room, some seven or eight feet from its 
original position inside the cabinet. It had been moved over the top 
of the black board and its several instruments. When the medium had 
recovered sufficiently to face the light, and the gag had been 
removed and retied to shield his eyes from the flashes, my wife took 
a number of post-sitting photographs. These included one showing the 
cardigan reversed. Having checked that the ties were still in place, 
I watched as Bianca used the pliers to cut each of the ties fixing 
the buttons to the buttonholes, and examined the arm and leg 
bindings as she cut the ties before the straps could be unfastened. 

THE MAIN PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 

I now summarise the physical events which I personally experienced, 
or else witnessed with the rest of the participants:

1. The translocation to a different part of the room of the medium 
bound in his chair.

2. The reversal of the medium's cardigan, with the plastic ties 
still unbroken.

3. The appearance some time during the séance of a cut on the
lower side of the base of my right thumb. It was made without my 
knowledge or awareness, and was some 2cm in length with congealed 
blood along the line of what would have normally been considered to 
be a scratch. My wife's pre-séance picture shows no sign of
any cut on my hand, whereas that taken immediately after the sitting 
does. My hand was held firmly by my immediate neighbour, Paul, 
throughout the sitting, normally with both hands, save for the few 
minutes required for him to adjust the red light. The scar was still 
faintly visible twelve days later.

4. The trumpet, the luminous large end of which was seen to be 
performing a variety of patterns and aerobic adornments in the air, 
was operated at great speed and with considerable precision, and was 
pressed quite hard against my chest at one stage.

5. My head was tapped sharply several times, apparently by the 
luminous end of the trumpet during the aerial demonstrations.

6. I was vigorously slapped on both knees as an introduction to the 
first supposedly materialised entity.

7. My tie was unknotted, ripped off, and thrust with great precision 
in the narrow space between the chairs on which my wife and I were 
sitting. It was later found on the carpet beneath the chairs.

8. The two rings of equal dimensions but different woods were found 
on the left arm of Alan, sitting opposite me and alongside Bianca. 
Towards the end of the séance he had reported that someone was 
trying to force the rings over his wrist. When I tried to pull them 
over his hand to remove them he complained that it was painful, 
although later succeeded in doing so. He contrasted this with the 
relatively gentle pressure experienced when the rings had been 
pushed over his wrist during the séance.

9. While holding my wife's right hand with my left, leaving my
index finger protruding, we were both touched by a warm, soft and 
seemingly human hand for about fifteen seconds.

10. There was tap dancing of an apparently expert kind, as well as 
extremely fast drumming on the ceiling during the Irish jig music.

11. A silver tie pin surmounted by a cat was apported as a gift to 
Bianca, purportedly through the mouth of the medium as he extruded 
ectoplasm.

12. There were very clear, loud and distinctive series of four 
voices we heard, all of which answered questions intelligently.


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