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Campaigners bid to clear the 'witch'


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user posted image rWhen the battleship Barham was torpedoed by the Germans in November 1941, with the loss of over 800 lives, the Admiralty delayed announcing the news to maintain morale. But the secrecy was ended within a few days when medium Helen Duncan told a couple during a seance that their son, a sailor on the ship, had appeared from the spirit world to tell them it had sunk.

news icon View: Full Article | Source: Daily Mail

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Gee.....what is more logical and beleivable. Spy or Witch?

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if she was a spy why arrest her after the war?

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There was another article about her on here recently. The charge she was actually jailed for was basically trying to circumvent a law against fraudulent "spiritual" activity. Known as the Witchcraft Act

So she wasn't jailed as a spy. She was jailed because it was illegal to play Miss Cleo.

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Either way ... does any of it really add up ? frankly charges in either case are absolute bulle ... Informing a family of the loss of their son does not constitute sensative material in any case ...the number of ships lost to German U-boat attacks at the time was asronomical anyways ...It is not as if the whole nation ...actually the world was not aware of this fact ...frankly I agree with Mr. Churchill on this one " TomFollery" and if the british government could waste time then to convict her ? ...they can certainly take a moment now to Pardon her ...

Ogre

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  • 10 months later...
linked-imageWhen the battleship Barham was torpedoed by the Germans in November 1941, with the loss of over 800 lives, the Admiralty delayed announcing the news to maintain morale. But the secrecy was ended within a few days when medium Helen Duncan told a couple during a seance that their son, a sailor on the ship, had appeared from the spirit world to tell them it had sunk. In one of the most bizarre acts of the Second World War, Mrs Duncan was accused of leaking military secrets - and became the last woman jailed as a witch in the UK. Now campaigners want an official pardon for the Scots-born mother of six, who spent nine months in Holloway Prison, north London. A group of mediums have handed a petition to the Scottish Parliament, calling on it to lobby Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Campaigner Roberta Gordon, from Gullane, East Lothian, said: "At the time the country was paranoid about security and the evidence used against her wasn't accurate. "It would take away the stigma from her granddaughters and the great-grandsons." Mrs Duncan was one of Britain's best-known mediums. During her seances she produced "ectoplasm" - a stringy white substance that is supposed to give form to spirits and allow them to communicate. Paranormal investigators denounced her as a fraud who used cheesecloth and egg whites, but her family insist she was genuine, "an ordinary woman with a gift".

Despite the controversy, Mrs Duncan reputedly numbered Winston Churchill and George VI among her clients. Churchill denounced the case against her as "obsolete tomfoolery" and visited her in prison. The Barham, a 29,000-ton battleship, was hit by three German torpedoes in the Mediterranean on November 25, 1941.

linked-image View: Full Article | Source: Daily Mail

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This is a tragic story of a misuse of the legal system, I'm sure Churchill (a druid) could have done more than he made out for this woman. There is no doubt that Helen Duncan did use fakery, but most of the time it would appear not so, if she did use fakery all the time she would surely go down as the most amazing magicians in history, there were many things that couldn't be explained despite her being rigorously examined before seances. She obviously had upset people in high places which makes you wonder what else she had revealed in previous seances other than the sinking of the 'hood' and the 'barham'?? Maybe she revealed the real reason Hess visited Scotland?

Edited by henrychalder
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