Powell, Evan (1881-?)

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Powell, Evan (1881-?)

British physical medium of Paignton, South Devon. Powell was originally a coal miner and later a tradesman in Wales. Powell usually sat tied to a chair before a cabinet with drawn curtains. His chief control was "Black Hawk," a Native American. Movements of objects, psychic lights (see luminous phenomena ), and direct voice phenomena were supposedly witnessed at his séances. He gave many sittings at the British College of Psychic Science.

"Black Hawk" claimed that a book had been published about him in the United States. A friend of Powell's commissioned a book agent to locate it and present it to the medium. The title was: Life of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak or Black Hawk, dictated by himself (Boston, 1834). "Black Hawk" also maintained there was a memorial to him in Illinois, a fact subsequently proven wrong. For a discussion of Powell's mediumship, see Revue Métapsychique (1924, p. 326) and Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (vol. 44, p. 161).

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