The Phantom “Katie King”

A WALKING, TALKING APPARITION

Katie came through the curtains, spoke to several people and let a doctor take her pulse, normally 75 BPS .  But when he took it this time, his thumb went through her wrist. 

Miss King conversed and interacted with visitors and investigators, and seemed like a normal, lively young woman—except that at times she glided in because she was missing her feet. Or, if her medium was losing power, she would start to disintegrate in front of their eyes.

THE MEDIUM, FLORENCE COOK

The phantom Katie was the product of the subconscious mind and body of a precocious teenaged medium named Florence “Florrie” Cook in the golden age of trance mediumship following the emergence of the Fox sisters and D. D. Home.

Florence would be tied to a chair or secured in some way in a dark enclosure or room, fall into a deep trance state and Katie would emerge. She claimed to be the daughter of “John King” the supposed spirit contact of Eusapia Palladino. (Palladino was only two years older than 16 year-old Florence, but her mediumship must have been already well known in Spiritualist circles.)

THE DISCOVERY OF KATIE KING

Alexander Aksakoff, the foremost Russian psychical researcher at the time, attended a séance at Florrie’s parents’ home. The young medium was bound, behind a curtained off area, so that she couldn’t leave her chair without pulling a string that was fastened to a table in the room. When the phantom Katie appeared it spoke in a low, whispery voice saying, “Do ask me questions, reasonable questions that is!”

Aksakoff asked if she could show him her medium, to which she replied, “Yes, certainly, come here very quickly and have a look!”

AKSAKOFF’S OBSERVATIONS OF KATIE AND FLORENCE

He immediately got up, drew back the curtain, which was no more than five steps from his chair, and saw Florrie, clothed in black, still seated in her chair. Katie had disappeared.

As soon as he was back in his chair Katie appeared standing next to the curtain. She asked if he had had a good look and when he replied that it was too dark behind the curtain to see well, she invited him to take the lamp and “have a good look immediately!”

Again he was alone facing the medium who was sitting on a chair in a deep trance with both her hands bound fast behind her back. Florrie began to sigh and to awake. He left and behind the curtain a dialogue started between the medium, waking more and more, and Katie, who wanted her to go back to sleep. Katie had to give way. She said “goodbye” and then silence followed.

With the séance ended, Aksakoff tested the bindings finding the knots and wax seals over them still intact. When he cut the medium free, he said it was only with difficulty that he could get the scissors under the tape, so tightly were her hands bound together.

ENTER WILLIAM CROOKES

About a week later Aksakoff attended a second séance of Florrie’s at the home of the man who presided over the sittings and usually bound her.

This time he convinced his friend, William Crookes, an astute and respected scientist to come with him. Crookes had already tested D.D. Home extensively, found him to be genuine and was, although skeptical, open to these unknown phenomena.

Crookes was impressed enough by Florence’s demonstration to invite the young medium to his home where she could be chaperoned by his wife and participate in controlled experiments. He would be assisted in these experiments by other notable scientists and investigators of the day, including famous naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who with Darwin co-discovered natural selection.

WAS FLORENCE KATIE KING?

Like Kluski’s early phantoms, this one resembled the medium.  The fact that Katie looked a lot like Florence engendered accusations that it was just the medium dressed in white muslin.  They did look alike but there were significant differences. 

For one thing, Katie was several inches taller than the medium, especially when she floated above the floor. (She would glide around sometimes because her feet had failed to materialize.) When her feet were there, she would often be requested to stamp them (they were bare) on the floor to make sure she wasn’t standing on tiptoe. Her hands were also larger; her fingers longer than Florrie’s and, more importantly, Katie had perfectly formed fingernails while Florrie bit hers down to the nubs. 

The medium had pierced ears; Katie didn’t. Their hair color was different: Florence had dark brown, nearly black tresses, while Katie, who had once given Crookes a lock of her hair, after he had checked to see that it really grew from her head, had golden auburn hair. It was as though the phantom was an idealized alter ego of the teenaged medium.  Even in personality, the phantom seemed more confident and bold than the young Florrie.

There were other differences such as Florence having a rough large blister on her neck whereas the phantom’s neck was smooth. Later, when photographs were taken of Katie, she posed with Crookes. Later he had himself photographed again, this time with Florence dressed up to look like her phantom. In comparing the photos the two images of Crookes are identical in stature, but Katie is half a head taller than Florence and “looks a big woman in comparison with her.”

CROOKES’ LAB CONDITIONS FOR FLORENCE COOK

The scientist and his colleagues took elaborate precautions to insure that no fraud could take place. Before beginning Florence was inspected by a female member of the investigation to make sure she had nothing on her person but the clothes she was wearing. She was then locked in the Crookes’ library which had been thoroughly searched. Any windows or other doors were not only locked but sealed with thread secured by wax, which was imprinted with a signet or seal over the knots.

Florence seated on a couch, or later lying on the floor, her head on a pillow, was wired by each wrist with a fragile platinum wire that ran from a battery source to a galvanometer in the adjoining laboratory. Any movement of the wire over the skin surface, or its removal, would be immediately detectable.

The curtained entrance to the lab was crossed with fine wire, making it impossible to pass through without breaking a circuit connected to another galvanometer.

CROMWELL VARLEY’S NOTES ON KATIE KING

Varley, one of Crookes’ assistants for these experiments, was a leading electrical engineer who was involved in testing and laying the transatlantic telegraph cables in the 1860s. According to Varley:

“The medium was treated like a telegraphic cable. An electric current passed from her right wrist along her arm to her left wrist, as well as another circuit across the door into the laboratory. Despite all this the half-materialized form of Katie King appeared down to the waist only, the remainder of the body being missing or invisible. I held the hand of this strange being, and at the end of the séance, Katie told me to go and awaken the medium. I found Miss Cook entranced as I had left her, and all the wires intact. I then awakened Miss Cook.”

WHY SOME MEDIUMS USED A CABINET

A common question from today’s readers is why use a “cabinet” at all; it only seems to increase suspicion, and neither Home nor Kluski used them. The answer may be that most mediums, especially female mediums, felt more comfortable with privacy. At any rate the arrangement seemed to facilitate achieving a deep trance state and the generation of the force.

As Varley’s statement illustrates, the medium, or at least Katie, was comfortable enough with Varley to have him enter the cabinet. It was Crookes however, whom she trusted enough to invite into the cabinet to see both herself and Katie at the same time.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FLORENCE COOK AND KATIE KING

Like Kluski’s early phantoms, this one resembled the medium.  The fact that Katie looked a lot like Florence engendered accusations that it was just the medium dressed in white muslin.  They did look alike but there were significant differences. 

For one thing, Katie was several inches taller than the medium, especially when she floated above the floor. (She would glide around sometimes because her feet had failed to materialize.) When her feet were there, she would often be requested to stamp them (they were bare) on the floor to make sure she wasn’t standing on tiptoe. Her hands were also larger; her fingers longer than Florrie’s and, more importantly, Katie had perfectly formed fingernails while Florrie bit hers down to the nubs. 

The medium had pierced ears; Katie didn’t. Their hair color was different: Florence had dark brown, nearly black tresses, while Katie, who had once given Crookes a lock of her hair, after he had checked to see that it really grew from her head, had golden auburn hair. It was as though the phantom was an idealized alter ego of the teenaged medium.  Even in personality, the phantom seemed more confident and bold than the young Florrie.

There were other differences such as Florence having a rough large blister on her neck whereas the phantom’s neck was smooth. Later, when photographs were taken of Katie, she posed with Crookes. Later he had himself photographed again, this time with Florence dressed up to look like her phantom. In comparing the photos the two images of Crookes are identical in stature, but Katie is half a head taller than Florence and “looks a big woman in comparison with her.”

CROOKES SEES KATIE INSIDE THE CABINET

The first time Katie asked Crookes to enter the cabinet room was immediately after she had retreated behind the curtain after she had been walking among and talking with the participants. She came back to the curtain and called him to come in and lift the medium’s head, which had slipped down.

He walked in and up to Florrie, Katie having stepped aside to let him pass. The medium had slipped partially off the sofa and her head was hanging in a very awkward position. He lifted her on to the sofa and could see that she was in her ordinary black velvet dress and seemed to be in deep trance. He stated that not more than three seconds had elapsed between the time he saw Katie in her white robes and his raising Florrie to the sofa.

Katie tried, entering the cabinet with a phosphorous lamp, to show herself and the medium at the same time. The first attempt didn’t succeed so Katie came back to the curtain and handed the lamp back to Crookes saying they’d try another time. His eldest son, a boy of 14,who was sitting opposite him in such a position that he could see behind the curtain, said he distinctly saw the phosphorus lamp apparently floating about in space over Miss Cook, illuminating her as she lay motionless on the sofa, but he could not see anyone holding the lamp.

FLORENCE AND KATIE SEEN TOGETHER

Katie informed them that she thought she would be able now to show herself and the medium together. She told Crookes to put out the gas light and enter the cabinet/room with the phosphorus lamp. He asked one observer who knew shorthand to take down any statements he made while in the cabinet, not wishing to leave more to memory than necessary. Crookes used those notes in his report, which I’ll condense here:

He found Florrie crouching on the floor in her black dress, “appearing perfectly senseless.” She didn’t move as he took her hand and held the light close to her face. Raising the lamp he saw Katie standing close behind the medium robed in her flowing white drapery. Holding Florrie’s hand and still kneeling he passed the lamp up and down so as to illuminate Katie’s whole figure and satisfy himself that he was really looking at the real Katie.

She didn’t speak but moved her head and smiled at him. He did this three times, examining Florrie to be sure that the hand he held was hers, and then turning the lamp to Katie and examining her with “steadfast scrutiny” until he had no doubt whatever of her “objective reality.”

Finally, the medium moved slightly and Katie motioned him to go away. He went to another part of the room and then ceased to see Katie but didn’t leave the room until Florrie woke up and two of the observers came with a light.

THE USUAL ACCUSATIONS

Of course the expected accusations of fraud, despite the quality of the prestigious investigators rained down. Those scientists, who had lauded Crookes as the one person with the intelligence, integrity and acumen to debunk these charlatans, were the same ones who then called him gullible, credulous and dishonest.

Unfortunately he, not thinking anything of it, had reported that at one session he had taken the very vivacious phantom Katie in his arms. Never mind that his wife, family, and a group of colleagues were there, he was accused of having an affair with the teenaged Florrie and using the experiments to cover it up.

FAREWELL TO KATIE KING

At Florrie’s last séance with Crookes, Katie allowed Crookes to “see the last of her” and stay in the cabinet to the end. He reported that after closing the curtain she conversed with him for some time, then walked across the room to where Florrie was lying senseless on the floor, touched her and said:

“Wake up, Florrie, wake up! I must leave you now.” Miss Cook then woke and tearfully entreated Katie to stay a little time longer. “My dear, I can’t; my work is done. God bless you,” Katie replied and then continued speaking to Miss Cook. . . . [A]t last Miss Cook’s tears prevented her speaking. Following Katie’s instructions I then came forward to support Miss Cook, who was falling on the floor, sobbing hysterically. I looked round, but the white-robed Katie had gone. As soon as Miss Cook was sufficiently calmed, a light was procured and I led her out of the cabinet.

FLORENCE COOK’S SAD LATER YEARS

Florence Cook did not fare well. She continued giving séances producing other phantoms but her powers waned and perhaps she was unable to find someone whom she could trust to protect her interests as Crookes and his colleagues had done.

She was “caught cheating” but it may have been unconscious fraud: The man who was supposed to have tied her, deliberately left the knots loose enough to be slipped. In trance, we know that a medium may unconsciously cheat if she is able.

Like the Fox sisters and some other mediums whose powers failed them in time and they lost the attention and admiration they had once enjoyed, Florence took to drink.

A man who said he had been her “suitor” went to the Society for Psychical Research to report that Florrie “confessed” that Katie King was a hoax to cover her adulterous affair with Crookes. Of course this “suitor” made his revelation some 56 years later, after all the parties directly involved were dead and those old accusations had been widely publicized.

CONCLUSION

It’s hard to fathom that anyone reading the details of Cook’s mediumship, the observations of so many witnesses and researchers before as well as during the Crookes investigations, and the integrity of Crookes’ character would not give more weight to the genuineness of the case than to any “confession” that might have been made by a sad and aging former celebrity trying to attract a younger man.

Read about other “inside the séance” people:
D.D. Home • Eusapia Palladino • Fox Sisters • Franek Kluski • Helen Duncan
Indridi Indridason • Katie King