The Mediumship of Daniel Dunglas Home

In mundane parts of Terran society, the occasional spiritual movement attracts the attention of the Seven. A religious congregation might claim to actually see their deity or a group of people interested in crystal "magic" might get ahold of a tome of actual magic sold off by an unknowing relative. Some cases of mundane interactions with actual magical society, however, are so old that there is nothing more to be done than preventing anyone from digging too deeply. The strange séances and magical acts of Daniel Dunglas Home are one such case.

What the Mundanes Know

Home was born in Scotland in 1833 and was always a frail child. In his youth, he began to claim to be able to speak with the dead and quickly gained the attention of American and European scientists, skeptics and admirers through the rest of his life. As his career as a medium progressed, he was able to perform levitations of items such as tables, could read thoughts and was able to summon the spirits of the dead to interact with their living relatives. Despite many hundreds of tests and attempts, no one could determine whether his acts were faked or if they were legitimate supernatural occurrences orchestrated by Home. He survived on the generosity of his admirers until his death in 1886 of tuberculosis.

What the Seven Knows

It is a generally believed fact that Daniel Dunglas Home was one of the first recorded mages on the planet Earth. The idea of his "frail" health as a child and into adulthood is consistent with someone who uses magic in places where very little can be found. It also handily explains why his séances and other supernatural abilities have never been able to be duplicated; while only mages can make ghosts and therefore those Home spoke with and commanded were not "real," they could easily have been forces and illusions of other kinds. He was also almost certainly a Diviner due to his ability to predict the future, including his own mother's death.
Naturally, it is now illegal under the Terra Doctrine to be so brazen with one's use of magic, but with Home dead many decades before the Seven's arrival on Earth, it would be ridiculous to try and prosecute him for it. All that can be done at this point is to cover up any evidence of real magic and befuddle any attempt to dig too deeply into his methods.

Date of Setting

1833-1886

Related Ethnicities

• American

Related Species

• Terran

Related Locations

• Earth

Effects on Popular Culture

Home's séances were attended by many hundreds of important people, from the famous writers Alexandre Dumas (whose later works often references to similar types of spiritual happenings) and Alexis Tolstoy to the King of France and other heads of state of European countries. Many people who became part of the Spiritualist movement in the United States of America had heard stories of Home's exploits or had witnessed one of his performances, leading to a rise in the belief in the supernatural at the same time as the first mages on Earth.

All images used in this article were created by me, EmperorCharlesII, unless otherwise credited.