William Thomas Stead - Spiritualism

Spiritualism

In the 1890s, Stead became increasingly interested in spiritualism. In 1893 he founded a spiritualist quarterly, called Borderland, in which he gave full play to his interest in psychical research. Stead was editor and he employed Ada Goodrich Freer as assistant editor: she was also a substantial contributor under the pseudonym "Miss X". Stead claimed that he was in the habit of communicating with Freer by telepathy and automatic writing. The magazine ceased publication in 1897.

Stead claimed to be in receipt of messages from the spirit world, and, in 1892, to be able to produce automatic writing. His spirit contact was alleged to be the departed Julia Ames, an American temperance reformer and journalist whom he met in 1890 shortly before her death. In 1909 he established Julia's Bureau where inquirers could obtain information about the spirit world from a group of resident mediums.

Grant Richards said that "The thing that operated most strongly in lessening Stead's hold on the general public was his absorption in spiritualism".