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Murder
Most Foul
by Tricia Robertson and Archie Roy
The present authors have spent the past 21
years, jointly, in just such a pursuit as suggested by Eileen
Garrett. We have conducted many investigations and controlled
experiments over this time, sometimes in conditions up to
triple blind as far the mediums are concerned. The mediums
gave of their time willingly as they were, and still are,
of the same mind as Garrett- to try to discover the validity
and methods of communication. Whatever else mediumship is,
it is a transfer of information from one person, or source,
to another person. Before pursuing the next account, it is
worthwhile noting the thoughts of the eminent Professor Henry
Sidgewick when he said:-.
The records of experiments
must depend ultimately on the probity and intelligence
of the persons recording them, and it is impossible for
us, as investigators, to demonstrate to persons who do
not know us that we are not idiotically careless or consciously
mendacious. We can only hope that within the limited circle
in which we are known, either alternative will be regarded
as highly improbable.
The next account is by Tricia
Robertson
 Because
people know of our interest in mediumship and other aspects
of the paranormal we are often contacted by people that
we do not know.
In 1996, a woman contacted me and wanted to talk about the
death of her daughter. I duly met her and it became obvious
to me that she would have liked me to obtain a sitting with
a medium for her. As she had told me that her daughter was
murdered some three months earlier, I felt that it was too
raw and too soon for that course of action. I asked her
to tell me nothing of the events surrounding this death
and I suggested that we meet again and I asked her to bring
me a sealed envelope in which would be some personal possession
of the girl. She agreed. It was my intention to take the
envelope to a medium, or mediums and ask them to psychometrise
it and in that way perhaps gain some sort of reading from
it..
At our next meeting she handed me a sealed brown A5 envelope.
I could feel that the envelope was “bumpy” but
nothing revealed if it was say a watch or a ring or anything
definable.
I should also add at this point that I did not know which
medium or mediums I would have access to for this task.
I visited a medium, unannounced, and asked, as I place the
envelope on a table, “Can you get anything from this?”
After a blank stare the medium said “Do I have to?”
Reply –“yes”
I told him nothing at all about the envelope, why I had
it in my possession or the circumstances surrounding it.
(I did not know much about the circumstances myself)
Reluctantly, he placed his hand on top of it and, with a
surprised look on his face, he immediately said, “I
have a girl here with longish dark brown hair –he
hesitated for a second then said-she was killed!”
“She is telling me that she had two tattoos, one above
her left breast, in the form of two hearts intertwined,
they are done in red and blue.
The other is on the back of her right arm. It is a single
rose in red and green.
She lives in a cul de sec, one up on the right. Telling
me she misses her four cats”. She gave the name of
her partner. I will call him Adam (pseudonym)
At this point the medium was looking at me meaningfully,
possibly for some acknowledgment that he was correct, but
of course I had no idea if his statements were accurate
in any sense and merely shrugged my shoulders. My apprehension
grew a little with his next statement.
“She is telling me that she was in “named”
prison when she was younger.” I thought well that’s
either right or wrong; there is no room for interpretation
there. He then said that she had a terminated pregnancy
when she was younger.
She is saying “The newspaper reports were wrong, the
description of the clothes that I was found in were all
wrong. I was actually wearing a pink top a grey skirt and
ankle boots.”
“My photograph was moved from the mantelpiece to the
top of the TV today by my mum”
“Adam was the first one to know that I was killed,
he phoned my mum”
The medium then gave a description of her attack, which
I will not elaborate on, but suffice to say that all of
her injuries were reported to be at her back.
She “told” the medium that a green car- possibly
a cavalier and a red astra were relevant to her death. There
were two men involved, a white man about five foot six inches
tall and a taller and thinner Asian.
The medium also gave me a specific address in Glasgow, a
top floor of a tenement building on the right hand side.
With that he said “she’s gone”
The total time taken for this delivery was less than 15
minutes
I had recorded all of this information and now had to find
a responsible way of speaking to the mother. I made a list
of the statements and an appointment to visit the mother’s
home, next day, for the first time. Other meetings had been
in a neutral setting.
As I entered the lounge I noticed the girl’s photo
on top of the TV. I said casually “Is this May? (pseudonym)
She said “Yes, I put it there yesterday, used to be
on the mantelpiece.”
I then said to her that I had a list of statements made
by a medium, but for all I knew they might be absolute nonsense,
so I would read them out one by one and I asked her just
to say if they were right or wrong. Every statement I read
to the mother was absolutely correct. I did not give her
the description given of the attack and did not mention
the pregnancy, as she may not have known about it. But it
was established later that the girl’s injuries were
all at her back.
I also did not supply her with the address given, or the
descriptions of the two men or the cars described in the
reading.
In total there were 29 individual statements.
22 out of the 29 were absolutely correct, including the
descriptions of the positions, shape and colours of the
tattoos. She did have four cats. The statements that were
considered not correct were in fact not able to be evaluated
due to the fact that I did not give the mother all of the
information re pregnancy, address, description of the murder
and the description of the men. So these were considered
“wrong” for evaluation purposes.
Simply put, 78% of the information was correct.
This was not general information that could apply to anyone,
but specific to the girl in this case. If we consider the
information about the tattoos alone, regarding shape, colour
and position and remember that neither the medium nor the
researcher knew anything at all about the people involved,
far less the validity of the information, then this must
surely give us pause for thought.
Let us say that each of the 22 correct statements
out of 29 had a fifty - fifty chance of being correct, which
is obviously not the case as it is heavily biased against
the medium. For example the medium said that she was missing
her four cats. Who would know that she had four cats, she
could have had no cats, one cat two cats, three cats, etc.
No other number was mentioned, as with all of the other
information, just one clear statement.
Even using this unfair figure of fifty - fifty for each
statement being correct, the odds of the total reading,
in scientific terms, being due to chance are 0.0029. If
we calculated to odds against chance allocating each statement
a 4 to 1 chance of being correct then the odds against chance
overall are 0.0000000118. These figures are surely something
which must be taken seriously.
This account is exactly as it happened.
For anyone who wishes to dismiss it, or, without supporting
evidence, say that it must be flawed, I would be willing
to take a polygraph test at any time from now to the end
of my life.
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