Roberts, Estelle (1889-1970)

One of the more famous British Spiritualist mediums of the mid-twentieth century. Born May 10, 1889, she claimed to have first seen a spirit at the age of ten. At school, she constantly heard voices and saw apparitions. Her parents scolded her for having a too-vivid imagination. At the age of fifteen, she was employed as a nursemaid, but the visions and voices followed her wherever she went. She married at the age of seventeen and later foretold her husband's untimely death. After that she had a hard struggle to support her three children, and she took a job as a waitress, working from 7 a.m. until late at night.

One day a neighbor persuaded her to attend a Spiritualist service, where the clairvoyant said: "You are a born medium. You have great work to do in the world." In due course, she became a medium, controlled by the spirit guide "Red Cloud." She operated in complete darkness and manifested clairvoyance, clairaudience, direct voice, materialization, psychometry, psychic healing, trance oratory, automatic writing, and production of apports.

While hailed by Spiritualists, she would never allow trained observers to examine her work. She even gave a demonstration of Spiritualism in the august surroundings of the House of Commons in Britain, but she turned down a formal offer from the Society for Psychical Research to investigate her physical mediumship.

Estelle Roberts died in 1970.

Sources:

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Roberts, Estelle. Fifty Years a Medium. London, 1969. Reprint, New York: Avon, 1972.