Leonora Piper

Leonora Piper (née Leonora Evelina Simonds; 27 June 1857 – 3 June 1950) was a famous American trance medium in the area of Spiritualism. Piper was the subject of intense interest and investigation by American and British psychic research associations during the early 20th century, most notably William James and the Society for Psychical Research.

Researchers and scientists who studied Piper's mediumship have described mentalist techniques such as cold reading, muscle reading and "fishing" she may have used to gather information about séance sitters. Science writer and mathematician Martin Gardner dismissed Piper as a "clever charlatan."

Piper was born to Stillman and Hannah (Stevens) Simonds. She grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire where, according to her parents, she first displayed psychic abilities as a child. At the age of 22 she married shopkeeper William Piper of Boston and settled in the city's Beacon Hill area. After the birth of her first child, Alta Laurette on May 16, 1884 in Boston, she sought relief from recurring pain caused by a childhood accident. A second daughter, Minerva Leonora, followed on October 7, 1885. Upon visiting an elderly blind man who claimed he could contact spirits that could aid in healing, she said she heard voices that resulted in her ability to deliver a message by automatic writing to a local judge who claimed the words came from his recently deceased son. Before Piper was investigated by psychical researchers she worked as a paid medium at a dollar for each sitting.

George E. Dorr, Piper's manager, set up six sittings with Dr. G. Stanley Hall and his associate Amy Tanner both from Clark University. A sitting with Mrs. Piper about 1910 cost $20.00. Piper made a fortune from her séances whilst being tested by psychical researchers, she was receiving around $1000 a year for her mediumship services. Piper was a trance medium but in her later séances preferred automatic writing. Piper died on July 3, 1950 at her home from bronchopneumonia. She was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Massachusetts.

...
Wikipedia