Is it possible for a
ghost to adopt a living human being? If you answered yes you would be
correct. Just such a thing happened in England in 1866. This is a story about three people. One
of them was Mrs. Jane Lyon, a very wealthy widow in her mid 70’s who was left
completely alone upon the death of her husband. The second person was the
ghost of her deceased husband, Charles Lyon.
And the third was Daniel Home, a famous psychic medium and the person
whom the ghost wanted to adopt.
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| Daniel Home |
“I first met Mr. Home in early October, either the second or
the third,” said Mrs. Lyon. “A local librarian gave me his home
address. I'd sought him out at the Athaeneum - a centre which Mr. Home
ran where like minded spiritualists could gather - but he wasn't there.” She finally did get to meet him, and at one of
their meetings, Mrs. Lyon’s husband Charles made contact through Daniel Home.
One of the ghost’s earliest messages to his wife was: my own
darling, Jane, I love Daniel. HE IS TO BE OUR SON, he is my son, therefore
yours. And this began the proceedings which led to the adoption of Daniel Home
by a ghost. The process was finalized on
December 10, 1866 when the official deed-poll was enrolled at the Chancery and
Daniel Home legally became Daniel Lyon.
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| Home Levitating |
However, due to a
meddling barrister, Mrs. Lyon would eventually sue Mr. Home for using
undue influence over her in order to steal an inheritance from her. The charge
was that he used his genuine mediumistic gifts in order to psychologically
overpower Mrs. Lyon. She did not claim that his powers were fraudulent
because she believed they were completely genuine. Mr. Home could raise
ghosts. He could talk to her dead husband. A lengthy trial was held
on the matter of undue influence before the King’s Equity Court.
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| Home's powers being tested |
The final decision of the court was that Daniel Home
was guilty of using undue influence over Mrs. Lyon. One reason Mr. Home
lost the case was because he could not convince the court that he didn’t produce manifestations –
negative evidence. Even though Mr. Home lost the case it is also inferred
from other actions of the court that Mrs. Lyon wasn’t considered an innocent
victim. She was made to pay all of the court costs which is unheard of
for the victor of a case! Also, the court said nothing about undoing Mr. Homes’
adoption. This seemed to imply that he could still inherit from the
estate of Mr. Charles Lyon his adoptive ghost father.
One other major item shouldn’t be lost. The court
declared that Daniel Home DID produce spirit manifestations. Thus this is
a case in which a legal court verified the existence of ghosts! This story is
based on court documents filed with the King’s Equity Court of England in the
year 1868.
For more true stories like this: HALLOWE'EN COURT
