The Man Who Floated Out of the Window
Three witnesses said that a famous medium floated out of one window, three storeys above a London street, and came back in through another.
What was reported
Daniel Dunglas Home was the most famous medium of Victorian Britain. He held séances for royalty and scientists, at which, it was said, he levitated, handled hot coals without harm, made an accordion play by itself and grew taller.
His most famous feat came on 13 December 1868, in a house at Ashley Place, London. Three witnesses said that Home went into a trance, floated out of a window on the third floor, and came back in through the window of the next room.
Explanations offered
Home was never publicly caught cheating, which is unusual for a medium of his time. Sceptics point out the room was dark, the witnesses' accounts differ in details, and he may simply have stepped from one balcony to another. The poet Robert Browning thought him a fraud and mocked him in a poem.
- When
- 13 December 1868
- Where
- Ashley Place, Victoria, London, England, UK
- Witnesses
- Lord Adare, Lord Lindsay and Charles Wynne
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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