Horos, Theodore (ca. 1866-?) and Laura(1849-ca. 1906)

A notorious man-and-wife team of occult swindlers who were sentenced for fraud in Britain on December 20, 1901. Mrs. Horos—also known as "Ellora," "Madame Helana," "Swami Viva Ananda," "Mrs. Diss Debar," "Angel Anna," "Claudia D'Arvie," "Editha Gilbert Montez," and "Blanche Solomons"—appeared to have been born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, on February 9, 1849, daughter of "Professor John C. F. R. Salomon."

In 1870, under the name Editha Gilbert Montez, she collected money by representing herself as the daughter of famous adventuress Lola Montez. In the 1880s she became a fraudulent Spiritualist medium in partnership with "General" Joseph H. Diss Debar. In 1888 she was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for fraud.

In 1898 she married Frank Dutton Jackson in New Orleans. The couple engaged in a fake mediumship partnership in Bucktown, Jefferson Parish, and, after complaints, were arrested and served a short prison sentence. At that time there were rumors of unsavory sexual practices in their "Orders of the Crystal Star."

The Jacksons reappeared in Europe in 1899 as "Mr. and Mrs. Horos," and in Paris became acquainted with S. L. MacGregor Mathers, from whom they stole some of the rituals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. At that time they variously represented themselves as being principals of the Koreshan Unity, a communal group located in Estero, Florida, or of the Theocratic Unity.

They moved to South Africa in 1890 and opened the College of Occult Science in Cape Town. Mrs. Horos lectured and gave clairvoyant readings under the names Madame Helena and Swami Viva Ananda, assisted by her husband, who called himself Theodore Horos. The swami issued to students certificates of occult proficiency, modeled on the stolen teachings of the Golden Dawn.

In October 1900 the pair set up headquarters in Britain. Their College of Life and Occult Sciences was established in London, teaching mental and magnetic therapeutics, psychology, clairvoyance, mediumship, materialization, thaumaturgic power, and divine healing. Under this cover they operated an esoteric order using the Golden Dawn rituals, with secret mysteries of their own in which gullible young women were raped as well as swindled. Their odd career seems to have come to an end in September 1901 when the couple was arrested for fraud. Jackson was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment and his wife to seven.

Sources:

Dingwall, Eric J. Some Human Oddities. London, 1947. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1962.

King, Francis. The Rites of Modern Occult Magic. New York: Macmillan, 1970.