Daniel Dunglas Home
Victorian Era Physical Medium
Daniel D. Home
by
June Ponte
oil on canvas
Written for this website on June 21, 2011
Ten years ago, I came to know of D. D. Home, physical medium. I found an old book in a junk store, entitled "Incidents in My Life"; it was Home's autobiography. As a practicing spiritualist medium, it impressed me deeply. Home was born in Scotland in the 1800s, and many unusual incidents were recorded about his abilities as a young child. He wrote that, as an infant, his cradle was rocked by unseen hands. A typical example of Home's youthful pranks: as a young boy, Home was found to be smirking in the living room, as a chair mysteriously glided about the room, chasing his sister!
Home became the most famous and skilled medium of his era. At a demonstration of his skills, Home was seen by a number of high society attendees at a seance, to float out of one window of the third story of a London mansion owned by Lord Lindsay, and float back in another window.
He read for royalty, scientists, authors and other well known public figures of his time. As a physical medium, Home demonstrated many powerful psychic abilities, including levitation, the ability to enable spirit voices to be heard and seen, the ability to produce apports (hands that materialized and disappeared), and even the elongation of his own body by nearly a foot.
**************************
June 21, 2011 -- It occurred to me this afternoon to write the above homage to Daniel. I was intrigued after some research, to realize that I had 'decided' to write about Daniel on June 21, his death day. In addition, after doing a little math, I discovered that today is the 125th anniversary of his death. Daniel Dunglas Home died of tuberculosis on June 21, 1886, at the age of 53.
Thanks for connecting, Daniel. If anyone could make their presence known, medium to medium, it is the masterful, mystical Mr. D.D. Home.
June 30, 2011 - After this inspirational connection, I created the oil painting above in memory of Daniel D. Home.
