Gordon Mons Higginson (17 November 1918 – 18 January 1993) was a Britishspiritualistmedium.
He was born inLongton, Staffordshire. As a child Higginson became a member of Longton Lyceum and attended Longton Spiritualist Church. He claimed to have had mediumistic abilities from an early age. He served in the armed forces inWorld War II. After the war he worked as a medium in Belgium, Britain and France. He was also the President of theSpiritualists' National Union (SNU) for 23 years and Principal of theArthur Findlay College from 1979 to 1993.[1][2]
Higginson was accused of fraud throughout his career, even by spiritualists and members of the Spiritualists' National Union. In 1974 theparapsychologists Barrie Colvin and Frank Spedding attended aséance with Higginson and claimed that theectoplasmic materialization figures were Higginson himself covered in cloth material. Frank Spedding wrote "the materialisations were crude fakes which should not have deceived anyone of normal intelligence". Before another séance Colvin searched the room and claimed to findmuslin tightly wrapped underneath a seat.[3]
In 1978, Higginson was accused ofhot reading. At a mediumship sitting inBristol in February 1976 he gave out names and addresses to his audience. The accusation was that information about his sitters was available from library lists, books and other documents, and that Higginson had been alone in the church for an hour before the sitting with the information.[4]
Higginson's own comments about the allegations against him can be found in his bookOn the Side of Angels: Authorised Life Story compiled by Jean Bassett.[5]
Higginson was a proponent ofpsychic surgery. David and Helen Elizalde, who were self-proclaimed psychic surgeons who had come from Australia, were sponsored by Higginson to tour the UK. A video was taken at one of their sessions. MagicianJames Randi who examined the film dismissed the Elizalde's as frauds. He suggested that the trick consisted of acondom filled with pig's blood, and he replicated the phenomena himself by trickery.[6]
Higginson had a session at the headquarters of the Spiritualist's National Union with the Elizalde's. Unknown to Higginson, a member secretly took away a sample of a blood clot that they had pretended to remove. The blood was forensically analysed and found to belong to a pig. Higginson was shaken by the discovery of fraud, but continued to believe that psychic surgery was genuine. After the exposure, the Elizalde's tour was cancelled.[6]
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