Psychography, a book about the mediumship and spirits of Fred P. Evans, by J. J. Owen.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century spiritualists had many ways of communicating with lost loves ones. It must have been an exciting time to be alive, knowing that the dead were so boisterous through mediums, whether it was through moving objects, spirit photography, or notes jotted down through a host’s hand.
“The grave is no longer voiceless,” proclaimed J. J. Owen, in his late 19th-century book Psychography: Marvelous Manifestations of Psychic Power Through Fred P. Evans. Psychography, as Owen defines it, is “writing by spirit power.” His subject, Fred P. Evans, had two spirits that loved using his hand.
Psychography self-portrait by spirit, Stanley St. Clair, through the hand of Fred P. Evans.
Evans was born on June 9, 1862, in Liverpool, England. After working various jobs as a young man, particularly as a mariner, he ended up in America. There he discovered mediumship at a public test séance in 1884 in San Francisco. Curious about the psychic’s abilities, he visited others, all of whom predicted he’d be a powerful psychic. So Evans made their predictions come true and dedicated himself to becoming one of them. After about three months he nearly gave up, but then discovered his gift for slate-writing—and much more.
“I found that each month improved my mediumship, and that one phase developed another, so that with my continued sittings I not only developed independent slate-writing but also automatic writing, rapping, clairaudience, clairvoyance, physical manifestations, and materialization, and have demonstrated all the above gifts to thousands in California,” Evans explained.
He produced handwritten messages and illustrations from beyond through the spirit powers of John Gray and Stanley St. Clair, respectively.
In life, Gray was born in London on June 10, 1816. He began a seafaring career at age 14 and started communicating with spirits by 1835. These voices advised him to sail to New York. There he became a Coast Guardsman and chatted with spirits who rapped on rocks and foretold events, like shipwrecks and seizures.
“I in turn would warn my mates, until they began to regard me as the Evil One when they saw these prophecies fulfilled,” Gray explained from the Other Side—a place he joined on October 27, 1837, after drowning during an attempt to save the crew of a wrecked ship off the coast. His ghost career took off through various mediums until he eventually found Evans.
Paired with the illustration abilities of St. Clair, the two spirits worked with Evans for decades, bringing the dead to life on slates around the world—regardless of who physically held the slates.
Psychography slate writing by John Gray, through the hand of Fred P. Evans.
In the example seen above, the séance was given before the members of the Brisbane Psychological Society in Australia on October 24, 1888. The pairs of slates to be used were first cleaned, then small pieces of pencil were placed between each, and finally they were sealed with sealing wax. Two members of the society each held a pair of slates, standing on each side of Evans. The three men stood several feet from the table where the remaining members of the séance sat. Evans then touched each pair of slates with his hands, while the men holding the slates used their free hands to join with the closest seated attendees. They, in turn, joined hands with the rest of the crowd until all members were connected.
“A strong power was at once manifested, some of the members being greatly affected, being twisted in their seats as by the power of a galvanic battery; several could not stand the power, and were forced to retire from the chain,” claimed one report.
After a few minutes, Evans broke the chain and broke the seals on the slates. On one of them, “no less than thirty different messages were found” and many of them “were read out loud to the audience and recognized in nearly every instance.”
Fred P. Evans slate writing, 1885.
At times, Evans’ slates even included messages from spirits in different languages, such as Count Rozzia from Italy, who wrote (as translated), “I am glad to be able to write you a few lines to aid you in proving the truth of a future life,” and Germany’s Professor Zollner, who said, “I have found an easy way for making known to science the proof of the return of the dead to this earth, and I shall soon give it to the world.”
By 1931, Evans was still entertaining audiences from Lily Dale to Los Angeles. But it seems we’re still waiting for Professor Zollner’s proof.
