It is often difficult to tell who's who as demonstrated by the case of Helen Duncan, the last person to be prosecuted for witchcraft in Britain. Oddly enough it may have been her authenticity, her accuracy, and her connection to intelligence personnel during wartime that landed her in prison.
With the likes of Harry Price, "the Psychic Detective", giving 'evidence' against her at her trial, Helen was prosecuted and sentenced to 9 months in prison. With financial backing from judges and notable scientists of the time, Price founded an institute devoted to psychic research (National Laboratory of Psychical Research.)
These many years later, evidence reveals that Price was the conman and Helen the authentic psychic. An interesting read on Harry Price and his papers has surfaced - Detective work on psychic conman - as the granddaughter of Helen Duncan attempts to secure a posthumous pardon.
Reading these materials may give anyone with an applied interest in psi cause to reflect and ask, "Hmm, how far have we come?" Polls reveal that the average fellow on the street has a high degree of confidence that psi exists. However, mainstream media and governmental forces continue to reflect the 'view from above' that would put the thumbs down on such developments. Take note of the current UK government's campaign: Scams Awareness Month . Please note, that I am quite aware that there are indeed many scams out there involving persons promoting psi in one form or another. However, this type of govermental promotional tends to set a tone that bleeds over into legitimate work.
As part of its Scams Awareness Month, the OFT is warning consumers not to fall for bogus clairvoyant mailings sent out to thousands of people in the UK every year. Letters from so called psychics or clairvoyants offer predictions or promise healing properties for a small fee. Often these mailings are aggressive in tone, predicting that something bad will happen if the recipient does not send them money. Although they are sent out in their thousands, the mailings are personalised to make recipients look as if they have been specially chosen and those who respond can be repeatedly targeted.
