Witness: Alfred Dodd

Alfred Dodd, a historian, senior Freemason, and acclaimed author of works on Shakespeare’s sonnets, testified at Helen Duncan’s trial that in her séances his grandfather, mother, and first sweetheart had materialized and spoken to him.

He had experiences and dialogue showing the people who materialized were alive although their bodies were dead. In their materializations, Dodd was able to confirm

• All the physical characteristics of the person he knew as his materialized grandfather:
  • “A very big man.”
  • “A very tall man, about 6 feet 1 at least, very corpulent.”
  • “He had on his smoking-cap that he used to wear. He was dressed in a dark suit. He had on the donkey fringe I knew so well, having been brought up with him since five years of age.”
  • “His face was brown and bronzed, just in the same way; the same look in his eye; the same expression and tones that I knew so well.”
• All the physical characteristics of his childhood sweetheart, Helen:
  • The same hair that I knew so well, dark and ruddy; the same eyes, hazel; they shone with animation; her face, the same ivory pallor on her cheeks.”
• All his grandfather’s mental and memory characteristics:
  • “He spoke just as if he was one of the family.”
  • “… he then continued and said, ‘Ban is here.’ Ban, that is the pet name for the old nurse that I used to have as a child, which I had known as I grew up.”
  • “He said, ‘Keep your pecker up, old boy.’ That was one of his characteristic expressions.”
• Helen’s vocal characteristics:
  • “Then I heard her speak, and she spoke in the same soft Scotch accent that I knew so well.”
  • “… it was a cultured Scotch, not a harsh Glasgow Scotch, nothing like it not harsh at all; a soft cultured voice, mixed, of course, with her training in England educationally.”
• His grandfather’s knowledge of Dodd’s present life when he referred to Dodd’s financial difficulties and that Dodd was editing a volume of Shakespeare’s sonnets

Excerpts from his trial testimony follow, uninterrupted by statements and questions. You can listen to a narration of the testimony.

Transcript of Excerpts from Alfred Dodd’s Testimony

Alfred Dodd: The curtains went on one side, and out there came the living form of my grandfather. I knew it was him, because he was a very big man…. A very tall man, about 6ft. 1 at least, very corpulent. He looked round the room very quizzically until his eyes caught mine. He then strode across the room from the seance cabinet to where I was. He pushed the heads of the two strangers that were before me on one side like that, and he put out his hand and he grasped mine. He said as he grasped it, “I am very pleased to see you, Alfred, here in my native city.”

I was very surprised at seeing him, and I looked at him most closely, and I said to him, “Why, you look just the same.”

He had on his smoking-cap that he used to wear. He was dressed in a dark suit. He had on the donkey fringe I knew so well, having been brought up with him since five years of age. His face was brown and bronzed, just in the same way; the same look in his eye; the same expression and tones that I knew so well. As a matter of fact, he was born in Manchester, and I was born in Manchester….

He next said, “I am sorry you are having such a rough time.” I was, because I was losing a lot of money on property at that time, and he seemed to know all about it. He spoke just as if he was one of the family. He touched on something very private and personal, which I could not make mention of in this court very well, but he then continued and said, “Ban is here.” Ban, that is the pet name for the old nurse that I used to have as a child, which I had known as I grew up. “Ban is here.” I said, “I am very glad. I hope you are getting on very well.” He said, “Keep your pecker up, old boy” that was one of his characteristic expressions; “Never say die while there is a shot in the locker.”

He was holding my hand all the time. He held it with so firm a grip that my hand ached for hours afterwards. There was thrown over him, as it were, a net of I should think half-inch mesh; there seemed to be thrown over him a net, because, as I held his hand, I pulled the net in my hand quite distinctly. He stepped back like that and he put his hand on my friend’s shoulder, who was sitting at the front. He put his hand on and clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Stand up, Tom,” just in the same commanding way he used to speak. “Stand up, Tom”… So Tom Wallace stood up and, when he stood up, my grandfather being a much bigger man than him in every way, he said, “Look into my face, and look into my eyes.” He said, “Will you know me again, Mr. Wallace?” Wallace said, “Yes.” “Very good. You ask Albert tomorrow to show you my portrait, which is hanging on the wall in his dining-room, and you will see it is the same man as is speaking to you, now.”

He turned round and walked back to the cabinet, and he lifted up his leg and he slapped his thigh three times, three loud resounding smacks, and then he went right to the curtain and he lifted himself to his full height. He smote himself on the breast three times, so that everybody could hear. He said, “It is solid, Alfred; it is solid,” and he went away inside. That was the first personal experience I had….

He said before he went, I ought to add to my evidence, one more remarkable thing. He said, “You are on the right track, Alfred. Go on with your work,” he said, “I mean the sonnets,” and there was not a living person in Manchester who knew I was interested in Shakespeare’s sonnets. I was editing an edition of Shakespeare’s
sonnets….

After the voice had come and several forms had come out to other people, he [Albert, Duncan’s control] called out and said, “There is a lady here, an old lady who wants a gentleman in the front row, and she is calling out the name of Jim.” Now I saw a little old body come out, very small in a dark garment, white of face, grey hair, and I recognized her by her photograph…. She came out without the slightest hesitation, and came straight from the cabinet, through the curtains right to where Mr. James Waller was sitting in the front row, and as she seized his hand and as he took hers, I heard the two. I heard the two voices. He said, “Oh, mother, mother,” and she said to him, “My boy, my boy.” They had a private conversation. I took the place of the sister who ought to have been there, and that was referred to in the course of the conversation.

She was very, very sorry a sister, a girl named Lily, was poorly. Then he said, “My brother Tom is here, you know.” She said, “Yes, I am going to him,” and she disengaged her hand quite literally, and went across an intervening space of two or three persons and went to shake hands with Tom. As she finished shaking hands with him, she said, “Now, be good to your father,” and she went back.

As soon as ever she had gone back into the cabinet, Albert’s voice called out once more, and he said that lady’s name. We will call her grandmother Mary. He said, “She has brought with her a little girl, and her name is little Mary” we will call her. He said, “Now little Mary has come to look for her daddy and her mummy; they are here.” As she spoke, I saw a white formless mist which seemed to come through the curtain; it came through the curtain in such a way that it remained about three yards from the sitters, and this formless mist began to condense. It took shape, and there I saw, to my astonishment, a little girl with a rope in her hand and she was skipping. I can see the twist of her hands even now, it was so real. It went on for six or seven skips, and then this little girl appeared almost to clamber on her knee, and sat between her knees, in some way.

Then the voice of Albert called out, “Come back; come back,” but the little girl said, “I want to show them my curls. I want to show them my curls.” He said, “You must come at once.” She said, “No, I will not.” There was quite a little altercation, and the two voices were crossing each other from outside and inside. Then he said, “All right. Show the curls,” and she showed her head. I saw them; I saw those golden curls. I was sitting right behind. She bent her head forward, and that was that. Then she went back….

The curtains opened once more, and I saw before me the living form, the living form! of a young lady aged twenty-one. Her name was Helen to me, and she was the first sweetheart that I had ever had, and therefore I knew her. I knew her absolutely. She stood there and she put up her hand to me, and waved in exactly the same way that she waved when I took her to her last social. She stood on the stairs, half-way up, and waved me away. She stood there dressed in a white flowing robe, and over that white flowing robe was a fine curtain of net….

I was so astonished that I stood up in my seat, which I ought not to have done, and I called out to my wife at the other end of the room, and I said to her, “Why, it’s Helen; it’s Helen.” The girl did not come to me direct, she came right round the room from left to right, and she stood before me, a living, palpitating woman. The same hair that I knew so well, dark and ruddy; the same eyes, hazel; they shone with animation; her face, the same ivory pallor on her cheeks….

I said as I looked at her, “Well, I am glad to see you. I am glad. I was only talking about you last night.” Then I heard her speak, and she spoke in the same soft Scotch accent that I knew so well…. She came from (unintelligible) but it was a cultured Scotch, not a harsh Glasgow Scotch, nothing like it not harsh at all; a soft cultured voice, mixed, of course, with her training in England educationally, and she was so real as she stood there that night.