Supernatural Stories: Helen Duncan and Charles Walton's Haunting Legacies

Michelle: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Haunted History Chronicles. First of all, thank you for taking a listen to this episode. Before we begin, I just want to throw out a few ways you can get involved and help support the show. We have a patreon page as well as an Amazon link, so hopefully if you're interested in supporting, you can find a way that best suits you.

Michelle: All of the links for those can either be found in the show notes or over on the website. Of course, just continuing to help spread the word of the show on social media, leaving reviews and sharing with friends and family is also a huge help. So thank you for all that you do. And now let's get started by introducing today's podcast or guest.

Michelle: On February 14, the body of Charles Walton was found brutally murdered on a farm named The Furs. Why was he murdered? And was witchcraft actually involved in his death? Walton was a man of 74 and lived in a small cottage in Lower Quinton, a small parish in the Stratford on Avon district of Warwickshire. He lived with his niece and went out every day to work as a Hedger on local farms. Neighbors described him as a silent, bent old man who loved to talk to the birds. Charles spent a lot of time alone in the fields, and people had begun to wonder why. Rumour can be a flame and the minds of locals tend to be highly flammable. He also had a hobby that most people considered strange. Rather than raising livestock, Charles bred toads. It had been a cold February day and his niece had prepared a warm meal and stoked the fire to welcome her uncle home. But twilight turned to darkness and Charles failed to return home for supper. The authorities were alerted and a search party set out the following morning. It didn't take long to find Charles under the wide branches of a willow tree in the mud and grass. An article printed five years after the murder described the scene. It read his injuries were hideous. The sickle blade of a trouncing hook had ripped his throat away and stuck still gleaming in the wounds. His thin old arms were cut where he had tried to defend himself. His face, with a stubble of white beard and eyes wide with fright, was twisted wildly and his body was pinned deliberately to the earth by the prongs of a hayfork. As investigators perused over the scene of the murder, a superintendent spooner held a book in his hands. It was titled Folklore: Old Customs and Superstitions of Shakespeare Land. There was an entry in that book. It read, in 1875, a young man killed an old woman named Dan Turner with a hayfork because he believed she had bewitched him.

Michelle: So this wasn't the first pitchfork murder in the vicinity, and it wasn't the second pitchfork murder either. There had been another one mentioned in a book titled Warwickshire by Clive Holland. An extract from that book read a man named John Haywood, who stabbed to death with a pitchfork an old woman, exclaiming that he would kill all the 16 witches in Long Compton. His mode of killing was evidently a survival of the ancient Anglo Saxon custom of dealing with witches by means of sticking spikes into them. Authorities looked for the killer for months. They had several theories. They also had the rumours about poor Charles that had been circulating before his tragic and brutal death, rumours that may have held some of those final clues. They were aware that people had been suspicious of Charles and how long he spent out in the fields talking to birds. They knew of the whispers that people felt he was doing unnatural things, that the toads in his back garden weren't just pets or a hobby, but were his familiars, used to pull a tiny plough and work the fields for him. He was a threat, he was dangerous. When the police interviewed the locals, they found some who whispered that Walton had the evil eye. Charles Walton, an elderly 74 year old man, was the devil among them, a source of evil power and wicked trickery. He was a witch, according to rumor, and his murder was punishment for that crime. It didn't matter if Walton actually did practice any sort of witchcraft or wizardry. All that mattered was that someone didn't like the way the man looked and decided to condemn him. And that simple accusation may have been what got Walton killed. The murder of an elderly man in such a horrific manner is remarkable. And shocking enough, the fact it was never solved adds to the mystery. What makes this case reach beyond all that we can comprehend, so noteworthy, beyond that this was a man murdered for suspected witchcraft, is the date that it took place, making it the last witchcraft murder in English history. And the year was 1945, five years after his murder, and people were still investigating, even though the police had already moved on to other, more solvable murders.

Michelle: It was during this time that Dr. Margaret Murray, an authority on witchcraft, delved into the ritualistic aspects of Walton's murder, uncovering a web of dark symbolism and ancient practices.

Michelle: According to Dr Murray's research, the use of the pitchfork was very symbolic, brooms having been a tool associated with female witches, and the pitchfork that of male witches and wizards. The date of the murder was also relevant because February 14 was actually February 2 on the old calendar. It was the day set aside for ritual's sacrifice and a time to spill blood on the fields to return fertility to the earth. After 15 years had passed, the St Valentine's Day witchcraft murder case was reopened. It was hoped that after discovering Walton's watch that had been found in what had been his back garden, that it may bring forth more evidence to the case but sadly, nothing new was ever uncovered. In the shadow of World War II, the St. Valentine's Day witchcraft murder case remains a haunting enigma, a testament to the enduring power of irrational beliefs. As we unravel the mysteries of the past, remember that the echoes of witch hunts can reach us from unexpected corners of history. It's a reminder that even in the lifetimes of our parents and grandparents, the darkness of persecution could loom large, casting long and ominous shadows. Superstition and persecution can lurk in small rural villages and the higher echelons of society. It can be lurking in shadows or out in the public, in courtrooms and corridors of power. At times, when we are afraid, superstition and persecution can be all too familiar. It breeds, and there is nothing more fearful than war. The backdrop of our account today. Whilst allies were preparing to storm the beaches of Normandy, barristers in London were calling and interrogating witnesses to give evidence for and against Helen Duncan and answer questions as to whether or not she had been channeling spirits from the dead. It would be a case that would see the home office seal her criminal files for a century of the matter of national security until 2046. In the wake of such secrecy, all that remains of the judge's autobiography eyewitness accounts of Seances Verbatim, transcripts of the trial, articles in spiritualist journals, newspaper articles, letters and notes, one of which was from Winston Churchill himself. Join me as we embark on a haunting journey to explore the chilling case of Helen Duncan, a woman accused of witchcraft in the 20th century.

Michelle: She was a woman whose reputation as a spiritualist medium grew, as did the whispers of her uncanny abilities. She claimed to communicate with the dead, bringing solace and closure to grieving families.

Michelle: But in a world where skepticism often clashed with the unexplained, her abilities were met with suspicion. It was during World War II, amidst the turmoil of the times, that Helen Duncan's life took a terrifying turn. Her seances drew the attention of authorities who accused her of revealing classified information about the war effort. During her sessions, in a twist of fate, Helen found herself not in the presence of her usual audience of the living, but standing before a courtroom facing charges of witchcraft, fraud and espionage. It was a shocking turn of events that would forever link her name to the dark history of witch trials. The trial of Helen Duncan was more than just a courtroom drama. It was a clash between the supernatural and the rational. As we unravel the details of her case, we'll discover the thin line that separates belief from skepticism and the lengths to which society was willing to go to suppress the unexplained. Get ready to explore the life and trial of Helen Duncan, a woman accused of wielding powers beyond the comprehension of her time. As we peel back the layers of this chilling story, we'll be reminded that even in the 20th century, the spectre of witchcraft still cast its shadow over those who dared to tread in the realm of the unknown. Prepare to be captivated as we unveil the mystifying tale of Helen Duncan and the haunting echoes of witch trials in a not so distant past. UK Helen McFarland was born on November 20, 597 in Calendar in Perthshire.

Michelle: A tomboy at heart. As a child, she stood out for being different, not only for desiring to dress and play like a boy, but because of her ghoulish visions and communications with dead people, a fact that would earn her the nickname Hellish Nell from the Highland townfolk. After leaving school, she would work in Dundee Royal Infirmary and by 1916 would be married to Henry Duncan. Nine pregnancies followed, with only six children surviving. Just ten years later, in 1926, she would begin offering seances, having developed from a clairvoyant to a physical medium, claiming to be able to permit the spirits of the recently deceased persons to materialize by emitting ectoplasm from her mouth. In 1928, the photographer Harvey Metcalf attended a series of seances at Helen Duncan's home and was able to capture various flash photographs of these alleged materialized spirits, including her spirit guide Peggy. His photographs revealed that these spirits were fraudulently produced by way of a doll made from a painted papier meshe mask draped in an old sheet. In 1931, the London Spiritualist Alliance also examined Helen Duncan's methods. They concluded after examination of pieces of ectoplasm that it was made of cheesecloth paper mixed with egg white and lavatory paper stuck together. The committee concluded in a report that the material was swallowed by Mrs. Duncan sometime previous to the sitting and subsequently regurgitated by her for the purpose of exhibition. 1931 would also see Harry Price investigate Helen Duncan after he paid her 50 pounds to conduct a number of tests answers he sent samples of the ectoplasm off to a chemist for analysis who determined it was made from egg white and chemicals. In his report, Price published photographs of Helen Duncan in his laboratory that revealed fake ectoplasm made from cheesecloth, rubber gloves and cutout heads from magazine covers which she pretended to her audience were spirits. By 1933, Helen Duncan would be arrested, convicted and fined ten pounds in Edinburgh for fraudulent mediumship. After the spirit of a young girl called Peggy supposedly emerged in the seance room, a sitter named Essen Mall grabbed at the spirit and the lights were turned on. The spirit was revealed to be made from a stockonette undervest. Despite this, by 1940 Helen Duncan would emerge as the most widely traveled and talked about medium in Britain in large. Thanks to the onset of war and people's increased desire to commune with the dead, it has been estimated that approximately 50,000 seance circles sprang up all over England during this time and Helen could not keep up with the demand. Leading a seance was a taxing process for Helen Duncan, and one she did not enjoy, but believing it to be her destiny. She would begin each seance with the inspection of her naked body. To ascertain that no hidden paper or other paraphernalia was concealed on her person. She would make her entrance onto the stage, where the lights would be lowered, the cabinet curtains would be shut around her, and it was here she would begin her metamorphosis into her spirit guide, Albert Stewart. The transformation from Helen's thick Scottish brogue to that of Albert's proper Oxford accent was considered one of the most extraordinary examples within spiritualism. Her gravelly baritone register would be replaced with a higher effeminate lilt. She would puff up like a peacock to become the life of the party and master of ceremonies. Helen and her spirit guide, Albert, would attract large audiences where she would pass on messages and visions from the dead, some of which concerned predictions surrounding the war. Helen would declare during her trances that despite common belief, germany would not invade England. And when military experts were proclaiming that victory would be swift, helen would decree otherwise, stating war would be a long and procrastinated six years. When Stalin and Hitler signed a non aggression pact, she would predict that Britain and the Soviets would become future allies. Whilst Britain was despairing at America's wish to stay out of European conflict, Helen was issuing rhetoric to the contrary with statements that the war would circle the globe from Japan to America and only end after two big bangs. How is it, then, that by 1944, this Scottish 46 year old mother of six would become embroiled in scandal at a time of war?

Michelle: How was it possible that her name dominated headlines and the front pages of newspapers across England and the highest criminal court preoccupied with matters of witchcraft, that would see her convicted as the last person in Britain under the Witchcraft Act of 1735? On August 13, 1940, chief Constable Arthur Charles West was focused on the threat across the English Channel and the German soldiers just 22 miles away in the towns and villages in northern France. His mind was not preoccupied by the potential threat posed by a Scottish medium, but instead securing Portsmouth's coastal waterfronts with coils of barbed wire and guard towers that watched out to sea. Um, at 04:20 p.m. That day, sirens blared loudly and people began hurrying to shelter as more than 100 Nazi bombers headed straight for the city of Portsmouth.

Michelle: Explosions shook the ground and the city was set on fire. Where shops and houses lay in rubble, trench shelters collapsed and bomb shelters failed. Just five minutes later, the German bombers would turn and head for home, leaving devastation in their wake. Between the summer of 1940 and December of that year, 21 685 civilians would be dead in that region alone and this area of England would be given the name Hellfire Corner. The Battle of Britain had begun with tensions so high and suspicions rife. Appearing in a local Portsmouth newspaper was the following headline spies Attend Seances. 

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Michelle:  HMS Barham was at the beginning of the Second World War, among the largest warships in the world, but by World War II, size no longer mattered. In fact, submarines and planes meant that warships had become a dangerous anachronism in a conflict where radar and aircraft carriers would decide the day. HMS Baram served in the Mediterranean under Admiral Cunningham and would do some good work there, taking part, for example, in the last old style fleet action in history by the Battle of Matapan on knocking out two Italian ships on that occasion, a destroyer and a cruiser. However, Barham's luck was running out. On November 20, 541, a German submarine wove through a destroyer screen and sent.

Michelle: Four torpedoes into the Barham. The ship began immediately to take on water. Most of the crew should have been saved. Unfortunately, though, the magazines exploded on board, killing 862 British sailors with some 400 surviving. Duncan worked as a medium in various parts of the country in the early 1940s, and from December 1941 there are newspaper notices of her working in the Portsmouth area, where she frequently stayed. Helen had been visiting Portsmouth from the start of the war, if not even earlier, but by the end of 1943, she had become a regular at the Master Temple, boarding for days on end with the Mrs Betterson and Milton Road. Crucially, many of the crew of Baron came from the Portsmouth area. In November of 1941, Helen Duncan would conduct a seance in Portsmouth, where she claimed that the spirit of a sailor had come forth and informed her that the HMS Barham had been blown up and sunk. The apparition would appear floating above a young woman in the audience who had a husband serving on the military vessel. The sinking of the barham on November 25 by German submarines was not yet known to the public. The Admiralty had, in fact, gone to great lengths to hide the barn's demise and the loss of 861 on board in order to maintain a facade for German intelligence that the British fleet in the Mediterranean was still a full one. And therefore try and hold a tactical advantage. Christmas cards and letters from deceased crew members had been sent out and relatives of some dead sailors had in fact been issued forged holiday greetings. Shortly after the seance, and having been told the news by Helen Duncan of the sinking, the young woman would contact the Admiralty and ask if the ship had gone down. Officers promptly arrived at her doorstep, discouraging her from jumping to conclusions and believing in ghosts. News of such an event, she was informed, would happen through proper military channels, not through spectacles and seances. Gossip and speculation though, was already out and the damage already done. News of the disaster would in fact be given to relatives of casualties and loved ones lost in the tragedy some weeks later, where they would be asked to keep the information a secret until an official announcement would be made. No such announcement would be reported until January of 1942. Guy Little, the wartime head of British counterintelligence, recorded the following in his diary. On the 26 December 1941 he wrote the Barham case has come up once more I e the need to keep it secret. A medium has produced a drowned sailor called Sid who was recognized by several people present at the seance and said he was one of the crew. Edward Hinchley Cook and Edward Custon are once more taking up the trail. The medium in that diary entry is almost certainly Helen Duncan and Little was clearly worried that information had leaked into the public sphere. This had not been the only case of a naval ship incident during the war connected with Helen Duncan. HMS Hood met her end in the early morning of Saturday, 24 May 1941 at the hands of the Bismarck. Much of Britain's subsequent hunt for the Bismarck was excited by the need to revenge Hood, something that was amply achieved. On 27 May HMS Hood did not sink. She exploded when a shell entered her magazine and only three of the crew out of 1418 survived. News of her demise was given to a shocked nation on Saturday, the 24 May at 09:00 p.m.. Many remember it as one of the worst moments of the war. The following account comes from Roy C. Firebrace and was given in a discussion following a talk by Percy Wilson in 1958 on Helen Duncan evidence for survival at the College of Psychic Science at Brighton. Firebrace began by introducing himself. He said during the war I was head of Intelligence in Scotland and I had the opportunity of attending a seance with Mrs. Duncan in Edinburgh. There appeared during the seance the form of a control Albert and he suddenly said a great British battleship has just been sunk. Well, I had no knowledge of this. After the seance I returned to my headquarters and as soon as I got back, about 2 hours after the sitting, I heard on the private line from the Admiralty in Scotland the news that the hood had been sunk. And I was then able to check up that at the time of the seance, the Admiralty had no knowledge whatsoever of the sinking of the ship. This was an instance of a materialized form, whatever you like to call it which did give, I think, at the correct time, the fact about the sinking of the battleship. So you understand, from the point of view of the authorities, Mrs. Duncan was a somewhat dangerous person. It is a fact that the police from Scotland Yard did come to the International Institute while these stories were current, and consulted Mrs. Duncan there and myself as to how Mrs. Duncan could be prevented from giving this information out because the authorities admitted that the information was authentic. With a breach of intelligence of this kind of magnitude, Helen Duncan would find herself under the heavy scrutiny of military intelligence officers and Chief Constable Arthur West, whose hands were tied. If they swiftly arrested her, it would fuel the speculation already circulating. Orders from the Home Office were clear that no mediums could be arrested by military intelligence officers unless reported for fraud by citizens. All they could do was watch and wait. On 14 January 1944, two lieutenants were among the audience at a seance held by Helen Duncan. During this sitting, one of these men, Lieutenant Worth, would witness a figure in a white cloth appear behind the cabinet curtains, claiming to be a deceased aunt that he did not have. He was also shown a figure claiming to be that of his sister that had passed news that was untrue as his sister was alive and well. Lieutenant Worth was horrified with the night's events and promptly reported her to the police. Just five days later, undercover police officers attending another seance would arrest Helen Duncan just as a white shrouded manifestation would appear on stage. This was later discovered to be Helen herself who attempted to conceal the white cloth.

Michelle: Helen Duncan was initially arrested under Section Four of the Vagrancy Act of 1824, a minor offense tried by magistrates. The following morning, Helen appeared before the  Magistrates court in Portsmouth. She wasn't overly concerned. She had been arrested before and expected to receive a similar fine and be on her way.

Michelle: She was surprised, as was the rest of the court, when the detective who had arrested her stood up and made the request of the judge that she be remanded in prison without bail at the request of Chief Constable West and the authorities, who regarded her case as more serious, Helen Duncan was quickly taken down and sent to Holloway Prison to await trial, where she was subsequently charged under Section Four of the Witchcraft Act of 1735. All in all, she faced seven counts two of conspiracy to contravene the Witchcraft Act, three of the common law offense of public mischief, and two of obtaining money by falsehoods. It was clear the authorities were afraid that she would continue to reveal classified information and were throwing the book at her. Duncan's trial was one a fascination for the general public, and a complicated one to present and defend. Searches made by the police found no physical evidence to suggest fraudulent behaviour, and so evidence was entirely that of eyewitness testimony, the majority of which denied wrongdoing. In the opening statement by the defence, the jury was informed of how Helen suffered from spontaneous burn marks, sudden bursts of light that had inflicted a stigmata like injury on her. Helen herself was barred by the judge from demonstrating her psychical gifts as part of any kind of defense. After a seven day trial, she was sentenced to nine months in prison. When convicted, she cried out, I have done nothing. Is there a God? She was then led from the court, where she was subsequently denied the right to appeal to the House of Lords. On the morning of Sunday April 2, 1944, prime Minister Winston Churchill would wake to smoke his cigar and read his newspapers. He had endured a difficult few weeks prior to this in Parliament and had issued an ultimatum that a vote for equal payrights for women be reversed or he would resign. London itself was ablaze devastated by the first aerial cluster bomb attack. Churchill was aghast when he picked up his newspapers that morning to see that the front page coverage was dominated not by war efforts but in fact preoccupied by witchcraft, with headlines such as Witchcraft Act offences in the News of the World. Medium defies sashkord and handcuffs in the Daily Herald and lies cry by Medium in the Daily Express By the following morning, Churchill would dictate a terse directive to his Home Secretary. He wrote the following let me have a report on why the Witchcraft Act 1735 was used in a modern court of justice. What was the cost of this trial? To the State observing that witnesses were brought from Portsmouth and maintained here in this crowded London for a fortnight, and The Recorder kept busy with all this obsolete tomfoolery to the detriment of necessary work in the courts. Helen Duncan was later released from prison. On 22nd September 1944, a little under five months before the murder of Charles Walton, she uttered the promise she would never act as a medium again. In the aftermath of war, however, neighbors would knock at her door, begging for comforting messages from beyond the grave. Helen would welcome them inside and deliver messages from those departed. Harassment continued to plague her for the rest of her life, too. She would be involved in a police raid on a private seance she was holding in Nottingham in November 1956.

Michelle: The attempt of this police raid was once again an attempt to prove that she was committing fraud. Helen Duncan, remembered and sentenced as the last witch in England, died just five weeks later, on 6 December 1956.

Michelle: As a result of this case, the Witchcraft Acts were finally repealed in 1951, a formal act of parliament three years later. Officially recognized spiritualism as a religion, Helen Duncan is remembered as the last witch of England. Sensitive state records and documents surrounding Helen Duncan remain sealed to this very day and will continue so for decades to come. This woman, who at times committed clear fraud, had moments of uncanny knowledge and activities that saw her brought to the attention of the British establishment. She was imprisoned and released. Her life and death leaves behind a story that remains as compelling, fascinating and as polarizing as it did back then. It is one of the most extraordinary psychic events of the 20th century. Some say it proves that mediums really can communicate with the dead state. Others, fraud and trickster claim her critics. I will leave it for you to decide. Thanks for listening. See you next time, and bye for now.