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William S. Marriott's Gambols with the Ghosts - Notes on a Strange World
Skeptical Inquirer, March-April, 2003 by Massimo Polidoro
"Is Spiritualism a fraud? Are the spirit-rappings and the spirit-forms of the seance, the prophecies of the palmist and the clairvoyant, the visions of the trance mediums, genuine evidence of a spirit-world, or are they mere catchpenny tricks, engineered by charlatans to charm money from the pockets of the credulous?"
These are the questions by which the editor of Pearson's Magazine introduced, in March 1910, a series of articles investigating Spiritualism, "in order that readers of Pearson's Magazine may judge for themselves the pros and cons of this tremendously important subject. If Spiritualism is genuine, it ought to be a vital factor in the lives of us all: if false, then it and its high priests should be ruthlessly exposed and believers in it disillusioned of a faith that is altogether vain."
On such a quest, the editor declared of having been "fortunate in securing the co-operation of Mr. William Marriott, who has made a life-long study of the occult."
Some readers of this magazine may be familiar with the name of Marriott, however it is very likely that the majority has never heard of him. This is quite unfortunate, since Marriott proved to be a very capable magician and skeptical investigator of psychic claims well before Houdini turned to the same subject. The Spiritualist journal Light, the then-official organ of the London Spiritualist Alliance, called him "the best exponent of the theory of fraud in Spiritualism in this country."
Information on him, however, is quite sparse and hard to find. For this reason I would be very grateful to any reader who could provide additional details on his life. This, then, is some of what is known.
Gambols with the Ghosts
William S. Marriott, a likeable fellow with a pair of well-waxed moustaches, was a British professional magician who performed under the pseudonym of "Dr. Wilmar." One of his best known illusions was known as "Dr. Wilmar's Spirit Paintings" and consisted in the production of apparently paranormal paintings, duplicating the claimed psychic phenomena of the Chicago mediums the Bangs sisters (Nickell 2000). According to writer Leslie A. Shepard, author of Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology (1991), this illusion so impressed a fellow magician P. T. Selbit that he agreed to pay Marriott a weekly royalty for the use of the illusion. However, Marriott himself was not entirely straightforward in claiming rights on the illusion, since he had obtained the secret from David P. Abbot, an amateur magician. When Selbit presented the illusion at the Orpheum Theatre in Omaha in 1911, Abbott saw the show and visited Selbit backstage, when he learned that Selbit had already paid Marriott some $10,000 in royalties!"
One of his first valuable scoops consisted in locating and publicizing a rare copy of Gambols With the Ghosts: Mind Reading, Spiritualistic Effects, Mental and Psychical Phenomena and Horoscopy, a secret catalog of spiritualistic paraphernalia and tricks then circulating among mediums. The catalog was issued in 1901 by Ralph E. Sylvestre of Chicago and was designed for private circulation among mediums, on the understanding that it would be returned to Sylvestre when tricks had been selected from it.
The catalog had an introductory note which stated: "Our experience during the past thirty years in supplying mediums and others with the peculiar effects in this line enable us to place before you only those which are practical and of use, nothing that you have to experiment with. We wish you to thoroughly appreciate that, while we do not, for obvious reasons, mention the names of our clients and their work (they being kept in strict confidence, the same as a physician treats his patients), we can furnish you with the explanation and, where necessary, the material for the production of any known public 'tests' or 'phenomena' not mentioned in this, our latest list. You are aware that our effects are being used by nearly all prominent mediums of the entire world."
This notorious catalog (a copy of which is still preserved in the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature at the University of London) included equipment for slate-writing, self-playing guitars, self-rapping tables, materializations, and a "Complete Spiritualistic Seance." Marriott obtained a number of these illusions and had himself photographed posing with them.
A Spirit on My Knees
In 1909 Marriott was approached by Pearson's Magazine in order to conduct, on behalf of the magazine, a series of investigations on mediums, clairvoyants, and healers the results of which was afterwards published, in 1910, in four issues of the magazine. All of the articles are wonderful exposes of several then (and still now!) popular fads.
In "The Realities of the Seance!," the first installment of the series, Marriott takes aim at Spiritualistic seances and, on the basis of his experiences, writes:
At many of the seances I was particularly struck by this fact. A very large proportion of the regular clientele of the mediums was invariably composed, as one could judge by the questions asked, and by their sombre dress of people who had recently suffered bereavement. It is on emotions and affections that ought to be sacred that the mediums trade, holding out the hope of possible communication with the departed friend or relative. I believe that a great proportion of conversions to Spiritualism are traceable to undue influence used at times like these; and I am certain that this factor operates very largely to make the medium's profession as profitable as it often undoubtedly is; for, while the ordinary seance fee may be anything from half-a-crown to half-a-guinea, cases have come under my notice of mediums extorting considerable sums by foisting alleged messages from the other world on credulous people. In cases of this sort, of course, the mediums are bringing themselves well within reach of the arm of the law, but the cases where evidence is obtainable are unfortunately few.
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