Helen Duncan (25 November 1897 – 6 December 1956) was a Scottish medium best known as the last person to be imprisoned under the British Witchcraft Act of 1735.

Early life[link]

(Victoria) Helen MacFarlane was born in Callander, Perthshire on 25 November 1897, the daughter of a slater.^[1] At school, to the distress of her mother (a member of the Presbyterian church), she alarmed her fellow pupils with her dire prophecies and hysterical behaviour.^[1] In 1916 she married Henry Duncan, a cabinet maker and wounded war veteran, who was supportive of her supposed supernatural talents. In 1926 she developed from clairvoyant to medium by offering séances in which she appeared to summon the spirits of recently deceased persons by emitting ectoplasm from her mouth. A mother of six, she also worked part-time in a bleach factory.

Practising medium[link]

In 1931 the London Spiritualist Alliance examined Duncan's method. After an initial positive review, the Alliance denounced her as a fraud. Harry Price (director of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research) was also sceptical and had Helen Duncan perform a number of test séances. She was suspected of swallowing cheesecloth which was then regurgitated as "ectoplasm". She reacted violently at attempts to X-ray her, running from the laboratory and making a scene in the street, where her husband had to restrain her, destroying the controlled nature of the test. However her defenders claimed to have witnessed events that could not be explained by trickery.

In 1934, during a séance in Edinburgh, a sitter made a grab at one of her materialisations. The police were called, and the "spirit" was then alleged to be a stockinette undervest. Duncan was found guilty of affray and fake mediumship at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and sentenced to a £10 fine or one month in prison.^[2] Supporters of Duncan have later claimed that the verdict was not "guilty" but the Scottish verdict of "not proven", based on their interpretation that the conviction was for affray alone.^[3]

[edit] HMS Barham sinking

During World War II, in November 1941, Duncan held a séance in Portsmouth at which she indicated knowledge that HMS Barham had been sunk. Because this fact was revealed, in strict confidence, only to the relatives of casualties, and not announced to the public until late January 1942, the Navy started to take an interest in her activities. Two lieutenants were among her audience at a séance on 14 January 1944 and this was followed up on 19 January, when police arrested her at another séance as a white-shrouded manifestation appeared.^[2][4] This proved to be Duncan herself, in a white cloth which she attempted to conceal when discovered, and she was arrested.^[5] She was also found to be in possession of a mocked-up HMS Barham hat-band.^[6] This apparently related to an alleged manifestation of the spirit of a dead sailor on HMS Barham, although Duncan appeared unaware that after 1939 sailors did not wear hat-bands identifying their ship.^[7] She was initially arrested under section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824, a minor offence tried by magistrates. However, the authorities regarded the case as more serious, and eventually discovered section 4 of the Witchcraft Act 1735, covering fraudulent "spiritual" activity, which was triable before a jury. Charged alongside her for conspiracy to contravene this Act were Ernest and Elizabeth Homer, who operated the Psychic centre in Portsmouth, and Frances Brown, who was Duncan's agent who went with her to set up séances. There were seven counts in total, two of conspiracy to contravene the Witchcraft Act, two of obtaining money by false pretences, and three of public mischief (a common law offence).

The prosecution may be explained by the mood of suspicion prevailing at the time: the authorities were afraid that she could continue to reveal classified information, whatever her source was.^[8] There were also concerns that she was exploiting the recently bereaved, as the Recorder noted when passing sentence.^[9]

Duncan's trial for fraudulent witchcraft was a minor cause célèbre in wartime London. A number of prominent people, among them Alfred Dodd, an historian and senior Freemason, testified they were convinced she was authentic. Duncan was, however, barred by the judge from demonstrating her alleged powers as part of her defence against being fraudulent. The jury brought in a guilty verdict on count one, and the judge then discharged them from giving verdicts on the other counts, as he held that they were alternative offences for which Duncan might have been convicted had the jury acquitted her on the first count. Duncan was imprisoned for nine months. After the verdict, Winston Churchill wrote a memo to Home Secretary Herbert Morrison, complaining about the misuse of court resources on the "obsolete tomfoolery" of the charge.^[10]

Repeal of the Witchcraft Act[link]

Duncan is often referred to as the last person to be convicted of being a witch, but this view is incorrect in two important aspects. Firstly, the Witchcraft Act 1735 under which she was convicted dealt not with witchcraft but with people who falsely claimed to be able to procure spirits. Secondly, there was a subsequent conviction under the act, of Jane Rebecca Yorke of Forest Gate in east London; on 26 September 1944 at the Central Criminal Court she was convicted on seven counts of "pretending...to cause the spirits of deceased persons to be present" and bound over.^[11][12]

On her release in 1945, Duncan promised to stop conducting séances; however, she was arrested during another one in 1956. She died at her home in Edinburgh a short time later.^[1] Duncan's trial almost certainly contributed to the repeal of the Witchcraft Act, which was contained in the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 promoted by Walter Monslow, Labour Member of Parliament for Barrow-in-Furness. The campaign to repeal the Act had largely been led by Thomas Brooks, another Labour MP, who was a spiritualist.^[2] Duncan's original conviction still stood, and it was the subject of a sustained campaign to have it overturned.^[13][14]

Dramatisation[link]

The naval investigation and subsequent trial was dramatised as a radio play. The Last Witch Trial by Melissa Murray, starring Joanna Monro as Duncan and Indira Varma as the undercover investigator, was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on 4 June 2010.^[15]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Gaskill, Malcolm. "Britain's Last Witch," History Today 51 (2001).
• "Hellish Nell," The Daily Mirror, 6 December 2006: 24.
• "The Last Witch-hunt", The Daily Mail, 7 February 2005: 15.
• Roberts, C.E. Bechhofer, ed. The Trial of Mrs Duncan, London: Jarrolds, 1945
• Morris, Richard. Harry Price: The Psychic Detective, Sutton, 2006

Further reading[link]

• Shandler, Nina. The Strange Case of Hellish Nell, Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2006, 289 pp. ISBN 9780306814389

External links[link]

• Records relating to Harry Price's investigation into Helen Duncan
• Helen Duncan website
• Article in World War II magazine about Duncan and the HMS Barham
• The Harry Price Website - Psychical researcher Harry Price's 1931 examination of Helen Duncan's séance room practices.
• Photograph of an alleged spirit manifestation by Helen Duncan
• Article about Helen Duncan and the implications of subsequent legislation.
• Campaign to have Helen Duncan posthumously pardoned

Vivian and Rosetta Duncan
Born	Rosetta: November 23, 1894 Los Angeles, California Vivian: June 17, 1897 Los Angeles, California
Died	Rosetta: December 4, 1959 Acero, Illinois Vivian: September 19, 1986, Beverly Hills, California

The Duncan Sisters were a vaudeville duo who became popular in the 1920s with their act Topsy and Eva.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Rosetta (November 23, 1894^[1] – December 4, 1959) and Vivian Duncan (June 17, 1897^[1] – September 19, 1986) were born in Los Angeles, California, the daughters of a violinist turned salesman.^[2] They began their stage careers in 1911 as part of the cast of Gus Edwards' Kiddies' Revue.

During the next few years they perfected their act with Rosetta as a foghorn-voiced comedienne and Vivian as the pretty but dumb blonde type. Within a few years they "matured into first-rate vaudeville troopers who wrote much of their music in dialogue."^[3] They subsequently played not only in vaudeville, but also in night clubs and on stage in both New York and London.^[2] They made their first important Broadway appearance in 1917 at the Winter Garden Theatre in a show with Ed Wynn and Frank Tinney entitled Doing Our Bit.

In 1923 the Duncans created their signature roles in Topsy and Eva (Rosetta as the former, Vivian as the latter), a musical comedy derived from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. For this production they wrote and introduced the songs "I Never Had a Mammy" and "Rememb'ring". A huge hit in its day, Topsy and Eva was subsequently adapted into a 1927 silent movie, directed by Del Lord with some additional scenes by D.W. Griffith.^[4]

[edit] It's a Great Life

In 1929 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released their early sound musical The Broadway Melody, starring Bessie Love and Anita Page as the fictional Mahoney sisters. The film proved to be highly successful so MGM decided to follow it up with a similar film, this time starring the real-life Duncan Sisters in the leads. The result was It's a Great Life (MGM, 1929), directed by Sam Wood and featured three sequences filmed in Technicolor.^[5] In the film the Duncan Sisters performed two of their most popular songs, "I'm Following You" and "Hoosier Hop."

Photoplay magazine stated in their review:

Vivian and Rosetta Duncan have made a snappy, hilarious comedy of the life of a vaudeville sister team in this elaborate picture. It is crammed to the gunwaves with Duncan comedy, and they do a lot of the vocalizing that made them famous. Listen for "Following You" – you'll care for it.^[6]

Unfortunately, the film "faltered at the box office and helped to cut short the Duncans' movie career."^[3] The movie, seldom seen for decades in part due to the color footage being missing, resurfaced in 2010 in a restored print released by Warner Bros. Archive.^[7]

MGM did cast the Duncans in their all-star 1930 extravaganza The March of Time, but that film was never completed. In 1935 the Duncans returned to the screen in the short musical Surprise! which featured footage of them reprising their Topsy and Eva characters.

Later years[link]

In 1930 Vivian married actor Nils Asther, who had co-starred with her and Rosetta in the film version of Topsy and Eva. Rosetta (who was lesbian)^[8] attempted a solo career for a few years, but was rejoined with Vivian in 1932 after Vivian's divorce from Asther.^[3]

Although by now past their prime, the Duncan Sisters continued as popular night club entertainers act for several more decades.^[2] They also appeared in several soundies[1] and also on television's You Asked For It. In the late 1940s the Duncans wrote and recorded four Christmas selection for the Hollywood Recording Guild Inc.: "Dear Santy", "The Angel on the Top of the X-mas Tree", "Twimmin' de Cwis'mas Twee" and "Jolly Ole Fella". These appeared on 7" extended play 78rpm kiddie records.

In 1956 both Rosetta and Vivian appeared on Liberace's television show. They sang some of their songs and did their Topsy and Eva routine.

Their act ended in 1959 when Rosetta died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Acero, Illinois. Vivian subsequently continued performing as a single act on the club circuit.^[2] She died of Alzheimer's disease in 1986.

Unrealized movie project[link]

In 1946, Twentieth Century-Fox considered making a musical biography about the sisters' life after the success of a film of another sister act, The Dolly Sisters. The project never got beyond the idea stage.

In 1952, Paramount Pictures announced plans for a biopic on the Duncans to star Betty Hutton and Ginger Rogers. Ms. Hutton demanded a rewrite after reading the first script draft and soon afterward walked out of her contract with the studio. Production plans for the film were then abandoned and never resumed.

Broadway appearances[link]

Screen appearances[link]

Selected recordings[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Rosetta Duncan at the Internet Movie Database
• Rosetta Duncan at the Internet Broadway Database
• Vivian Duncan at the Internet Movie Database
• Vivian Duncan at the Internet Broadway Database
• An article on Topsy and Eva
• Rosetta Duncan at Find a Grave
• Vivian Duncan at Find a Grave

Los Angeles, California