Arthur Ford
Encyclopedia
Arthur Ford was an American
psychic
spiritual medium, clairaudient and in 1955 founded the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
.
. After a sitting, William McDougall
, then psychologist at Harvard University and the 1920 president of the American Society for Psychical Research
, said Ford had supernormal powers on page 2 of Spraggett's book, but then later Ford informs the author on page 226, when Ford communicated McDougall the first names of his parents, McDougall said he "was not duly impressed." The American Society for Psychical Research library does not contain any record of Ford and McDougall sittings in its past journals, newsletters, or cross-references. The biographies of Ford offer many inconsistencies. Ford was known as a marvelous teller of tales when it came to his life. Each time Ford told a story it was a little different than the last. One of his friends said, "I don't think he knew what was fact and what wasn't." As with the McDougall story, as shown, the biographer Allen Spraggett also changes and stretches details. This makes a critical review of the history extremely difficult, if not impossible.
. He studied Christianity and was offered a ministerial scholarship in 1917 to Transylvania College, a Disciples of Christ school in Lexington, Kentucky
. He was ordained as a Disciples minister, and served a church in Barbourville, Kentucky
until 1924 when he began touring.
Arthur Ford claimed that during the First World War
while serving in the Army that he did not serve outside the States with his company and then later while serving in France he would hear the names of fellow soldiers who were going to die of the 1918 Spanish flu. Later he began to hear the names soldiers who within the next days would appear on the casualty lists. Their names were in exactly the same sequential order on the list as Ford had previously recorded the day before. Ford claimed that sometime before 1932 when he visited India, he had already learned methods of conscious projection from the Hindu religious teacher Swami Paramahansa Yogananda
and was constantly in touch with him. In Yogananda's 1946 Autobiography of a Yogi
Arthur Ford is not mentioned. Ford stated he was called David by the Hindus, which he said meant "Door to Heaven."
After the war he researched purported psychic phenomena and became a Spiritualist around 1921. In 1924 Ford toured the New England States appearing between the acts of the S.S. Henry's illusion production. The Sphinx, a conjuring periodical stated on August 1924 "he gave one of the finest talks on magic ever heard" in Athol, Massachusetts. He lost his interest in magic
and became fascinated with the occult
. He became a professional "hot and cold reader" and "billet reader," reading sealed messages given to him by members of his audience. This type of mentalism
entertainment was very popular in the 1920s. Ford claimed he could read minds.
Ford and others were very curious about Fletcher's past life. As was common with Ford he gave a variety of answers that didn't match.
Ford traveled to Britain
in 1927 and did a public demonstration of his abilities for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
, who the next day in the London Express, or possibly the Sunday Express, wrote, "One of the most amazing things I have ever seen in 41 years of psychic experience was the demonstration of Arthur Ford."
In 1965, Ford said,
In a typical sitting with Ford the communications were rambling, disjointed, only infrequently smooth-flowing. There was a lot of groping for the proper phrase, expression or a name. Often Fletcher would make one try at getting some evidential fact straight, then back up and run at it again. For example:
"Anyone here called Melton-Jane Melton?" A hand goes up.
"Your brother Albert is here."
"No, I never had a brother Albert."
"Oh yes, you had."
"No."
"Think again."
Yet out of the meandering, sometimes seemingly random, process emerged-exact names, odd details, exceedingly private trivia-which hit the sitter with dazzling force.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Of course, little Bertie who died young."
Ford claimed he had seen every miracle performed by Jesus duplicated; except the raising of the dead.
said,"There is one primary rule in the fakery of spirit mediumship. That is to concentrate upon persons who have suffered a bereavement."
Message No. 1
Bess wrote a letter dated December 16, 1926 to Arthur Conan Doyle. She told about Harry's restless nights as he awoke with "Mama, are you here?" on his lips. She said he never stopped hoping to hear the word "FORGIVE" from his mother. When Ford visited England in 1927 he talked to Doyle a number of times, Did Doyle mention the key word or show the letter to Ford?
A year before the "FORGIVE" message was heard from Houdini's deceased mother and disclosed in a letter by Arthur Ford to Bess Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle mentioned in a 1930 article that Bess had disclosed the word to a Brooklyn Eagle reporter on March 13, 1927. Bess was quoted as saying that any authentic communication from Mrs. Weiss would have to include the word "FORGIVE". Doyle believed Ford when he said he knew nothing about it. Houdini's mother only called him Erick, never Harry, as Ford delivered in this message. She also never wrote or spoke in English. She wrote and spoke in five other languages. Ford delivered her message in English.
Message no.2
"ROSEBELLE" was not relayed to Bess by Ford in the Houdini code. Inside the wide gold wedding ring Bess wore were the words of this song, with a miniature likeness of Harry. Bess had shown this unusual inscription to many people. This was hardly a secret. Before Bess sang Rosebelle in delirium, Ford had asked her to remove her wedding ring.
Message no.3
On page 105 of Houdini: His Life-Story by Harold Kellock, from the recollections and documents of Beatrice Houdini, Harcourt, Brace Co., June, 1928, are disclosed the associated 10 letters, 10 key numbers and key words of the Houdini code as it was used in performance by Harry Houdini and wife Bess. Every letter of B E L I E V E, this secret message from beyond the grave communicated by Arthur Ford to Bess Houdini on January 7, 1929, had been available to the general public for a period of six to seven months if one recognized how to use it. In a statement Bess made to the January 9, 1929 World, Bess said, "I had no idea what combination of words Harry would use and when he sent "BELIEVE" it was a surprise". There is no mention of Kellock and Bess Houdini's public disclosure of the code letters in The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman.
Messages no. 2 and no. 3
Mentalist Joseph Dunninger
, a close friend of the Houdini family, told reporters Nurse Sophie Rosenblatt, who attended Houdni in his last hours, heard him murmur Rosebelle-Believe to Bess. This information may have found its way to Arthur Ford. He also pointed out Houdini's old mindreading code was in the Harold Kellock and Beatrice Houdini book. There were other tests devised by Houdini to protect his wife from psychic fakers, one was the opening up a huge pair of handcuffs. Bess Houdini told reporters her husband planned to send messages to Arthur Conan Doyle and Remigius Weiss (Weiss had worked with Houdini to expose psychic fraud.) Both men said they had not planned any messages with Houdini. Bess told the press the only copies of the three messages were locked up in her safety deposit box at the Manufacturers Banks on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. B.M.L. Ernst, Bess Houdini's attorney, told historian Milbourne Christopher
that these documents existed only in her imagination.
in 1967 on network TV.
, then an obscure Korean evangelist. The accounts were removed from later editions of the book.
In a sitting on November 1964, Ford said Fletcher mentioned Pieter Alexander, who had learned about Sun Myung Moon
's ideas on spiritual growth. According to Alexander (in the seance), Moon denied the theory of reincarnation
but taught,
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
spiritual medium, clairaudient and in 1955 founded the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship or SFF was founded by Arthur Ford in 1956. Their mission is to be "an interfaith, non-profit movement" of religious leaders, writers, and business and professional persons who feel a kinship with and have a concern for the growing Western interest in altered states of...
.
Biographical problems
Biographer Allen Spraggett called him American Spiritualism's near pope and society's clairvoyant, comparable with the 19th century medium Daniel Dunglas HomeDaniel Dunglas Home
Daniel Dunglas Home was a Scottish physical medium with the reported ability to levitate to a variety of heights, speak with the dead, and to produce rapping and knocks in houses at will. His biographer Peter Lamont opines that he was one of the most famous men of his era...
. After a sitting, William McDougall
William McDougall (psychologist)
William McDougall FRS was an early twentieth century psychologist who spent the first part of his career in the United Kingdom and the latter part in the United States...
, then psychologist at Harvard University and the 1920 president of the American Society for Psychical Research
American Society for Psychical Research
The American Society for Psychical Research is an organisation dedicated to parapsychology based in New York, where it maintains offices and a library. It is open to interested members of the public to join, and has a website...
, said Ford had supernormal powers on page 2 of Spraggett's book, but then later Ford informs the author on page 226, when Ford communicated McDougall the first names of his parents, McDougall said he "was not duly impressed." The American Society for Psychical Research library does not contain any record of Ford and McDougall sittings in its past journals, newsletters, or cross-references. The biographies of Ford offer many inconsistencies. Ford was known as a marvelous teller of tales when it came to his life. Each time Ford told a story it was a little different than the last. One of his friends said, "I don't think he knew what was fact and what wasn't." As with the McDougall story, as shown, the biographer Allen Spraggett also changes and stretches details. This makes a critical review of the history extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Early life
Arthur Ford was born on January 8, 1896 at 10:30 a.m. local time in the small town of Titusville, FloridaTitusville, Florida
Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Brevard County. Nicknamed Space City, USA, Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore...
. He studied Christianity and was offered a ministerial scholarship in 1917 to Transylvania College, a Disciples of Christ school in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
. He was ordained as a Disciples minister, and served a church in Barbourville, Kentucky
Barbourville, Kentucky
Each year in early October, Barbourville hosts the Daniel Boone Festival commemorating the American pioneer Daniel Boone who explored the area in 1775. The festival features open air concerts, carnival attractions, a beauty pageant, a parade, and other events....
until 1924 when he began touring.
Arthur Ford claimed that during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
while serving in the Army that he did not serve outside the States with his company and then later while serving in France he would hear the names of fellow soldiers who were going to die of the 1918 Spanish flu. Later he began to hear the names soldiers who within the next days would appear on the casualty lists. Their names were in exactly the same sequential order on the list as Ford had previously recorded the day before. Ford claimed that sometime before 1932 when he visited India, he had already learned methods of conscious projection from the Hindu religious teacher Swami Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a...
and was constantly in touch with him. In Yogananda's 1946 Autobiography of a Yogi
Autobiography of a Yogi
In 1946, Paramahansa Yogananda , published his life story, Autobiography of a Yogi, which introduced many westerners to meditation and yoga...
Arthur Ford is not mentioned. Ford stated he was called David by the Hindus, which he said meant "Door to Heaven."
After the war he researched purported psychic phenomena and became a Spiritualist around 1921. In 1924 Ford toured the New England States appearing between the acts of the S.S. Henry's illusion production. The Sphinx, a conjuring periodical stated on August 1924 "he gave one of the finest talks on magic ever heard" in Athol, Massachusetts. He lost his interest in magic
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
and became fascinated with the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
. He became a professional "hot and cold reader" and "billet reader," reading sealed messages given to him by members of his audience. This type of mentalism
Mentalism
Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats and rapid...
entertainment was very popular in the 1920s. Ford claimed he could read minds.
Fletcher, the spirit guide
Soon Ford became a trance medium. One day in 1924 a deceased control began to speak from Ford's mouth. Words were delivered slow and deliberately, unlike Ford who spoke rapidly and slurred his words. In a voice sounding very similar to Ford's the control announced himself as Fletcher. Fletcher often ended questions with "no?". This proved to sitters he was French-Canadian. He became Ford's personal guide to the dead in the spirit world for the next three years.Ford and others were very curious about Fletcher's past life. As was common with Ford he gave a variety of answers that didn't match.
Ford traveled to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1927 and did a public demonstration of his abilities for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, who the next day in the London Express, or possibly the Sunday Express, wrote, "One of the most amazing things I have ever seen in 41 years of psychic experience was the demonstration of Arthur Ford."
In 1965, Ford said,
- "When Fletcher comes, I am totally unconscious. That proves its complete detachment. I can't remember anything. It isn't merely hypnosis. Fletcher is using words through me, using my voice. Naturally, they don't use words over there. Words are physical sounds. He has to interpret thoughts and ideas, that sort of thing, and put them into words." http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/UBK/UBK-2.htm
- "If we ask a discarnate to manifest on earth for even a moment, he has to have an instrument or vehicle suitable for that, so he borrows either the mind or any of the senses that he needs of a human being, In my case, I go to sleep because I was trained by a yoga, In this state of unconsciousness in which my objective mind is pushed aside there is a personality called Fletcher comes through." http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/UBK/UBK-4.htm
Fletcher discloses the unknown
Ford had an aversion for having his messages verbally recorded. It seems that completely detailed notes were avoided. There is also some question of their accuracy. Ford claimed that it was Fletcher who spoke to the living revealing information that was completely unknown. The following are some examples of dialogue: "You come from part of the country." "I see you have just flown in from the west coast." "You seem to be quite a traveler." "Another preacher tonight." "The worried man in the corner." "The woman with a pencil." "The name is Harry, Henry. No, it is Harrall". "You had a relative who died in World War I."In a typical sitting with Ford the communications were rambling, disjointed, only infrequently smooth-flowing. There was a lot of groping for the proper phrase, expression or a name. Often Fletcher would make one try at getting some evidential fact straight, then back up and run at it again. For example:
"Anyone here called Melton-Jane Melton?" A hand goes up.
"Your brother Albert is here."
"No, I never had a brother Albert."
"Oh yes, you had."
"No."
"Think again."
Yet out of the meandering, sometimes seemingly random, process emerged-exact names, odd details, exceedingly private trivia-which hit the sitter with dazzling force.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Of course, little Bertie who died young."
Ford claimed he had seen every miracle performed by Jesus duplicated; except the raising of the dead.
The Three Houdini Messages and others
Joseph DunningerJoseph Dunninger
Joseph Dunninger , known as "The Amazing Dunninger" was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time...
said,"There is one primary rule in the fakery of spirit mediumship. That is to concentrate upon persons who have suffered a bereavement."
Message No. 1
Bess wrote a letter dated December 16, 1926 to Arthur Conan Doyle. She told about Harry's restless nights as he awoke with "Mama, are you here?" on his lips. She said he never stopped hoping to hear the word "FORGIVE" from his mother. When Ford visited England in 1927 he talked to Doyle a number of times, Did Doyle mention the key word or show the letter to Ford?
A year before the "FORGIVE" message was heard from Houdini's deceased mother and disclosed in a letter by Arthur Ford to Bess Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle mentioned in a 1930 article that Bess had disclosed the word to a Brooklyn Eagle reporter on March 13, 1927. Bess was quoted as saying that any authentic communication from Mrs. Weiss would have to include the word "FORGIVE". Doyle believed Ford when he said he knew nothing about it. Houdini's mother only called him Erick, never Harry, as Ford delivered in this message. She also never wrote or spoke in English. She wrote and spoke in five other languages. Ford delivered her message in English.
Message no.2
"ROSEBELLE" was not relayed to Bess by Ford in the Houdini code. Inside the wide gold wedding ring Bess wore were the words of this song, with a miniature likeness of Harry. Bess had shown this unusual inscription to many people. This was hardly a secret. Before Bess sang Rosebelle in delirium, Ford had asked her to remove her wedding ring.
Message no.3
On page 105 of Houdini: His Life-Story by Harold Kellock, from the recollections and documents of Beatrice Houdini, Harcourt, Brace Co., June, 1928, are disclosed the associated 10 letters, 10 key numbers and key words of the Houdini code as it was used in performance by Harry Houdini and wife Bess. Every letter of B E L I E V E, this secret message from beyond the grave communicated by Arthur Ford to Bess Houdini on January 7, 1929, had been available to the general public for a period of six to seven months if one recognized how to use it. In a statement Bess made to the January 9, 1929 World, Bess said, "I had no idea what combination of words Harry would use and when he sent "BELIEVE" it was a surprise". There is no mention of Kellock and Bess Houdini's public disclosure of the code letters in The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman.
Messages no. 2 and no. 3
Mentalist Joseph Dunninger
Joseph Dunninger
Joseph Dunninger , known as "The Amazing Dunninger" was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time...
, a close friend of the Houdini family, told reporters Nurse Sophie Rosenblatt, who attended Houdni in his last hours, heard him murmur Rosebelle-Believe to Bess. This information may have found its way to Arthur Ford. He also pointed out Houdini's old mindreading code was in the Harold Kellock and Beatrice Houdini book. There were other tests devised by Houdini to protect his wife from psychic fakers, one was the opening up a huge pair of handcuffs. Bess Houdini told reporters her husband planned to send messages to Arthur Conan Doyle and Remigius Weiss (Weiss had worked with Houdini to expose psychic fraud.) Both men said they had not planned any messages with Houdini. Bess told the press the only copies of the three messages were locked up in her safety deposit box at the Manufacturers Banks on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. B.M.L. Ernst, Bess Houdini's attorney, told historian Milbourne Christopher
Milbourne Christopher
Milbourne Christopher was an American illusionist.President of the Society of American Magicians, an honorary vice-president to the Magic Circle, and one of the founding members of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Christopher authored several books, including a biography of Harry Houdini, and...
that these documents existed only in her imagination.
The Pike Messages
He gained national attention when he claimed to have contacted the dead son of Bishop PikeJames Pike
James Albert Pike was an American Episcopal bishop, prolific writer, and one of the first mainline religious figures to appear regularly on television....
in 1967 on network TV.
The Sun Myung Moon Sittings
In his book Unknown But Known Ford had recounted two lengthy seances undertaken on behalf of Sun Myung MoonSun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
, then an obscure Korean evangelist. The accounts were removed from later editions of the book.
In a sitting on November 1964, Ford said Fletcher mentioned Pieter Alexander, who had learned about Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
's ideas on spiritual growth. According to Alexander (in the seance), Moon denied the theory of reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
but taught,
- "Spirits on this side progress, but their progression is helped or hindered by things done or undone on the earth plane. ... Practically everyone on the earth plane is in some fashion being used, either as a means of helping someone here to progress, or to help someone on the earth plane to speak the Word or do the thing that is necessary." http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/UBK/UBK-1.htm