Doris Stokes - Career

Career

She first came to public attention in 1978 during a visit to Australia, when she appeared on The Don Lane Show. In the wave of interest that followed her appearance, she played to three capacity audiences at the Sydney Opera House. She was also the first medium to appear at the London Palladium, with the tickets selling out in two hours. In 1980, her first, written with Linda Dearsley, autobiographical volume, Voices In My Ear: The Autobiography of a Medium was published, pulling her further into the public eye in the UK. Over two million copies of her books were sold.

Stokes received much condemnation from the Church of England and other Christian denominations, which objected to spirit communication as an offence to God. She would counter that her work was done for God and in accordance with the Bible's injunction to "test the spirits to see if they (were) good".

She was also accused of using various forms of deception to achieve the effect of communicating with the dead. These included cold reading, eavesdropping, and planting accomplices in the audience. Guardian columnist Simon Hoggart claims that Stokes' husband, John Stokes, would take information from those who called to ask for sittings, offer them free tickets for public performances, then forward their information to his wife to be presented during the show. However, positive testimonials continue to come forward from Eamonn Holmes and Dale Winton.

In her book, Voices in my Ear, Stokes claimed that she had solved two murder cases in England. However, Detective Chief Superintendent William Brooks of the Lancashire Constabulary stated that Stokes made no contribution whatsoever to the detection of either murder.

Whilst in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, she also claimed that local murder victim Vic Weiss had contacted her with details of his murder. Former magician and high-profile sceptic, James Randi, contacted the LAPD, who informed him that all of the information supplied by Stokes had been available to the media at the time. Stokes was unable to provide any new information to the police and the case remains unsolved.

When challenged, Stokes was observed to defend herself against critics with messages claimed as containing accurate information by her sitters. A 1986 demonstration by Stokes at the Barbican in London was videotaped and may currently be seen on YouTube. In the Barbican video, Stokes is seen during a period of less-than-optimum health following two strokes the previous year. She briefly described her abilities to the audience and communicated many messages to family members about people who'd made the transition to 'the other side.' Three times during the Barbican video Stokes commented that seeing a small light indicated an individual hadn't long "been over" (on the other side). At one point, she indicated that a steady light indicated an individual had been over for some years.

In her first book, Stokes recalled the early stages of her mediumship when she began repeating what 'the voices' said to her. "The more practise I had, the more experienced I became at distinguishing the voices. At first it seemed to me like one voice speaking inside my head, but after a while I realized it was outside me, and then that it wasn't one voice but different voices. Soon I was able to tell if they were male or female, old or young." She became aware of one voice as that belonging to her 'guide'—Ramonov (the nearest she could come to the pronunciation)—and realized she couldn't choose who would speak to her, "I had no control over it."

In her fourth book A Host of Voices, she wrote further about these matters. "I can't bring someone from the spirit world into contact with the earth plane unless there is some sort of bridge. There has to be a bond of affection which links them with someone here." Stokes acknowledged, ". . . only rarely do I see spirits and they're almost always children . . . they are so real to me that I can mistake them for the flesh and blood youngsters who live here on the earth plane." She also recalled that she had once been watching television when she learned more about her guide. "There was a trailer for a programme called Tibet, the Roof of the World when a voice said to me, 'That's where I came from. That's where I lived on the earth plane.' It turned out that Ramonov had been a priest and a very wise one at that."

Her seven volumes of autobiography document the various tests she underwent to determine the source of her information. One examination involved her subject to a lie detector, another required her to undergo hypnosis and be questioned about her methods.

Described variously as "an individual of great personal warmth", "the Gracie Fields of the psychic world" and "a ruthless moneymaking confidence artist", she continued to give free consultations or "sittings" until a month before her death, when she left only £15,291.

Stokes's health was poor throughout her life. Her thirteen or so cancer operations included a mastectomy, and the April 1987 removal of a brain tumour, after which she did not regain consciousness. She died in Lewisham, London on 8 May 1987. At the end of her last memoir, published after her death but completed before her final operation, she reported a disembodied voice telling her "Your life on Earth is over, your life in spirit has begun."

Her death coincided with publication of Ian Wilson's The After Death Experience which included Stokes in the exposure of the methods of mediums. Wilson proved that Doris not only had previous knowledge about the people she called in her shows, she had actually sent invitations to some of them and placed them in reserved seats.