Clairvoyants and mediums search for Franklin
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9219711 |
|---|---|
| Authors | W Gillies Ross (Bishop's University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2003-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polar Record (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-2474 • E-ISSN: 1475-3057 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0032247402002723 |
| OpenAlex | W2146091222 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 3 |
The search for Sir John Franklin (1847–59) coincided with a growing interest in mesmerism and modern spiritualism in Britain. Several clairvoyants, claiming to ‘see’ Franklin's ships and crews in the Arctic, made statements about the status and location of the overdue expedition, and at least three mediums described communications with Franklin’s spirit. Although the Admiralty provided assistance to Dr Haddock, the mesmerist of Emma, the Bolton clairvoyant, they did not take any action on the basis of her statements, probably because the various accounts were contradictory and could not be verified, and because the Admiralty Lords were sceptical of paranormal phenomena. Lady Franklin, on the other hand, visited clairvoyants and altered the plans for her search expeditions under Forsyth and Kennedy on the basis of a revelation. Recently, an American medium has described more than two dozen conversations with the spirits of Sir John and Lady Franklin
Art history · Dozen · Epistemology · Skepticism · Spiritualism · History · Medicine · Philosophy · Polar Research and Ecology · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
Vegetational response to human colonisation of the coastal and volcanic environments of Ketilsstaðir, southern Iceland
Searching for Franklin
Gendering environmental geography
Ships Without Sailors? Nostalgia for Jack Tar in the Industrial Age
Years of environmental change and human impact at Stóra-Mörk, southern Iceland
False leads in the Franklin search
The Admiralty and the Franklin search
Recent Literature in Discovery History
Victorian prescience
Dreams of flight in the nineteenth-century Arctic imagination
Arctic Mysteries and Imperial Ambitions
| Citations per year | 0.48 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2003 - 2026 (24) |
| Highly cited | No |