Katie King (spirit)

[5][6] Moreover, it was argued that since spirits borrowed energy and matter from their medium, it was not surprising that Katie King resembled Cook.

On one occasion, at a joint seance in Crookes's home in March 1874, Katie King was seen in company with "Florence Maple", a spirit materialised by the medium Mary Showers who was exposed as a fraud shortly thereafter.

[9][10][11] The sessions were held with the medium secluded in the dark, because Spiritualists believe that materialization requires very dim surroundings to succeed, though occasionally the spirits materialised in the light and some photographs were taken.

At some point the audience would be shown a figure, apparently Florence, lying on the floor of the bedroom with her head covered by a shawl while Katie King was still visible in the parlour.

The publication caused an uproar, and his testimony about Katie King was considered the most outrageous and sensational part of the report.

[13] After news of Katie King had spread abroad, the American mediums Jennie and Nelson Holmes also claimed to have materialized her.

Robert Dale Owen, the politician and avowed Spiritualist, had experienced this materialization and wrote about it in an article for the Atlantic Monthly in January 1875.

[17] The story eventually accepted by most Spiritualists was that Eliza White had been hired to pose as Katie King for a photograph to sell to the public.