Doris Collins (1918-2003) was a British spiritualist and psychic medium.[1]
Biography
editCollins was born on 10 February 1918 in Essex, England and was the youngest of a family of nine children. From a young age Collins claimed to be able to see spirits a psychic ability she said to have throughout her life.[2] She attended a Spiritualist church and in 1958 became the president of Woodford National Spiritualist Church in Essex. She became a resident at the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain and made trips to the United States, Australia and toured Great Britain offering her mediumship services to people for money.[3]
She wrote three books on Spiritualism A Woman of Spirit (1985), The Power Within (1988) and Positive Forces (1991).
Skepticism
editCollins has been described as a cold reader by the scientific community.[4] James Randi examined a videotape of her mediumship from one of her shows and caught her cold reading.[5]
References
edit- ^ Jenny Randles, Peter Hough. (1994). The Afterlife: An Investigation Into The Mysteries of Life After Death. Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0425142127
- ^ Doris Collins. (1985). A Woman of Spirit: The Autobiography of a Psychic. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0583136426
- ^ Doris Collins (1918-2003) Archived August 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Jonathan C. Smith (2009). Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405181228
- ^ James Randi. (1997). An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0312151195