Whether or not you believe in the paranormal stories of psychic experiences are usually, to say the least, intriguing. Can people really see into the future? Or is it at best, lucky guesswork, or at worst outright deception? Over the coming weeks we shall be taking a look at some of the more famous mediums and their amazing predictions. Today we take a look at Eileen J Garrett who became one of the most respected mediums of the twentieth century.
Eileen J . Garrett
Eileen J Garrett was born in 1893, in Beaupare, County Meath, Ireland. Shortly after she was born her parents both committed suicide and Eileen was adopted, and brought up, by her aunt and uncle. From a very young age Eileen claimed to have seen various light forms and energy fields around people, animals and plants, referring to them as 'surrounds'.
One of her first major psychic experiences as a young girl,was seeing her favourite aunt, who lived about twenty miles away, walking up the path carry a baby. As the aunt approached, she said to Eileen, "I am going away now and I must take the baby with me." When Eileen told her adoptive aunt what had happened, she was punished for making up stories. The following day she learned her aunt Leone had died in childbirth, along with the baby.
She recalls an occasion from those early days when, because she was furious with her aunt, she drowned some ducklings. As she observed the little bodies, she saw movement around them, a smoke-like substance which rose in spiral curves, taking on a new shape as it left the bodies. It was this experience that made the young Eileen aware that there was something more than just a physical form, something that left the body at the time of death.
At the age of fifteen, Eileen, plagued with bad health, moved to England to live with relatives. She met a man by the name of Clive, whom she married within a few months, Three children followed, all boys, all dying at very early ages. Eventually she gave birth to a daughter, Eileen. Ill health continued to blight her life and subsequently her marriage ended in divorce.
During World War I she married again, a young officer who was immediately called to the front. Eileen claims to have had a premonition that the marriage would be short-lived.Whilst dining with friends one evening she had a vision of her husband dying. Two days later, he was listed as missing in action, and later was confirmed as having been killed in Ypres. There was a third marriage at it was around this time that Eileen began investigating psychic matters. One day whilst attending a psychic meeting she felt drowsy and started falling asleep. On awaking she discovered that dead relatives of others present had communicated through her.
She sought the help of a Mr Huhnli , who helped her to understand what was happening to her. Her mediumship had finally come to the surface. Ill health and another marriage breakdown and fear delayed her development. It was some time later, when she met J Hewat McKenzie, founder of the British College of Psychic Science, that her mediumship blossomed. McKenzie was probably the most powerful influence upon Eileen Garrett, she continued to develop her powers of mediumship at the College until Hewat McKenzie's death in 1929.
It was around this time that Eileen Garrett made perhaps her most memorable communication. The following passage is what Nandor Fodor said in his Encyclopedia of Psychic Science.
"In a sitting at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research on October 7, 1930, two days after the explosion of the R101, Flight Lieutenant H. C. Irwin, Captain of the airship, suddenly entranced Mrs Garrett, ans announced his presence and gave the listeners a highly technical account of how the airship crashed. The narrative was taken down in shorthand and a copy was submitted to the Air Ministry, According to the opinion of experts, a number of observations in the message tallied in every detail with what was afterwards found in the course of the official inquiry. E F Spanner, the well-known naval architect and marine engineer, came to exactly the same conclusions in his book, The Tragedy of the R101.
Another offer of marriage followed, but tragedy struck again. She and her fiance both fell ill on the same day. He died of pneumonia and she barely survived a mastoid operation. A confused an disillusioned Eileen decided to go to America and seek help from the scientific community. During her time in the States she subjected herself to intense physiological and psychological experimentation. She traveled to and from the States, searching, studying and experimenting.
When World War II broke out she was in France working with children and refugees. At the end of 1940 she returned to America and immediately became successful in the world of publishing, first starting, 'Tomorrow', a monthly magazine, and then her own publishing firm, Creative Age Press.
Eileen Garrett's greatest achievement was the founding of the 'Parapsychology Foundation, in 1951. Her honesty and business acumen helped to make it one the most respected foundations of its type. Eileen Garrett died in 1970.
Eileen J . Garrett
Eileen J Garrett was born in 1893, in Beaupare, County Meath, Ireland. Shortly after she was born her parents both committed suicide and Eileen was adopted, and brought up, by her aunt and uncle. From a very young age Eileen claimed to have seen various light forms and energy fields around people, animals and plants, referring to them as 'surrounds'.
One of her first major psychic experiences as a young girl,was seeing her favourite aunt, who lived about twenty miles away, walking up the path carry a baby. As the aunt approached, she said to Eileen, "I am going away now and I must take the baby with me." When Eileen told her adoptive aunt what had happened, she was punished for making up stories. The following day she learned her aunt Leone had died in childbirth, along with the baby.
She recalls an occasion from those early days when, because she was furious with her aunt, she drowned some ducklings. As she observed the little bodies, she saw movement around them, a smoke-like substance which rose in spiral curves, taking on a new shape as it left the bodies. It was this experience that made the young Eileen aware that there was something more than just a physical form, something that left the body at the time of death.
At the age of fifteen, Eileen, plagued with bad health, moved to England to live with relatives. She met a man by the name of Clive, whom she married within a few months, Three children followed, all boys, all dying at very early ages. Eventually she gave birth to a daughter, Eileen. Ill health continued to blight her life and subsequently her marriage ended in divorce.
During World War I she married again, a young officer who was immediately called to the front. Eileen claims to have had a premonition that the marriage would be short-lived.Whilst dining with friends one evening she had a vision of her husband dying. Two days later, he was listed as missing in action, and later was confirmed as having been killed in Ypres. There was a third marriage at it was around this time that Eileen began investigating psychic matters. One day whilst attending a psychic meeting she felt drowsy and started falling asleep. On awaking she discovered that dead relatives of others present had communicated through her.
She sought the help of a Mr Huhnli , who helped her to understand what was happening to her. Her mediumship had finally come to the surface. Ill health and another marriage breakdown and fear delayed her development. It was some time later, when she met J Hewat McKenzie, founder of the British College of Psychic Science, that her mediumship blossomed. McKenzie was probably the most powerful influence upon Eileen Garrett, she continued to develop her powers of mediumship at the College until Hewat McKenzie's death in 1929.
It was around this time that Eileen Garrett made perhaps her most memorable communication. The following passage is what Nandor Fodor said in his Encyclopedia of Psychic Science.
"In a sitting at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research on October 7, 1930, two days after the explosion of the R101, Flight Lieutenant H. C. Irwin, Captain of the airship, suddenly entranced Mrs Garrett, ans announced his presence and gave the listeners a highly technical account of how the airship crashed. The narrative was taken down in shorthand and a copy was submitted to the Air Ministry, According to the opinion of experts, a number of observations in the message tallied in every detail with what was afterwards found in the course of the official inquiry. E F Spanner, the well-known naval architect and marine engineer, came to exactly the same conclusions in his book, The Tragedy of the R101.
Another offer of marriage followed, but tragedy struck again. She and her fiance both fell ill on the same day. He died of pneumonia and she barely survived a mastoid operation. A confused an disillusioned Eileen decided to go to America and seek help from the scientific community. During her time in the States she subjected herself to intense physiological and psychological experimentation. She traveled to and from the States, searching, studying and experimenting.
When World War II broke out she was in France working with children and refugees. At the end of 1940 she returned to America and immediately became successful in the world of publishing, first starting, 'Tomorrow', a monthly magazine, and then her own publishing firm, Creative Age Press.
Eileen Garrett's greatest achievement was the founding of the 'Parapsychology Foundation, in 1951. Her honesty and business acumen helped to make it one the most respected foundations of its type. Eileen Garrett died in 1970.
Footnote:
The R101 was a British rigid airship completed in 1929. After initial flights and modifications it crashed on5 October 1930 in France.
You can learn more about the R101 in tomorrows Journal, when we shall be looking more closely at what happened to the ill fated airship.
