Daniel Douglas Home is considered by many to be the greatest psychic, but he was also the first psychic. Being the first psychic, he revealed a whole new aspect of spiritualism. This interest alone may be the reason why he is thought of as the best.

Home had an interesting heritage. According to him, his father was the son of Alexander who was the tenth Earl of Home and his mother was descended from a Scottish Highland family. In his mother’s family, a gift of second sight (the power of seeing into the future) was bestowed on him and other family members.

Home was a sensitive child who was very nervous and very unhealthy; in fact, he was not expected to live. Possibly for those reasons, he was adopted by a childless aunt. He spent his early childhood in Scotland, then spent the remainder of his childhood in America, ending up in Troy, New York. His last name was referred to as Hume (not Home) in America.

Many people were aware that Hume was very observant and had a superior memory. He claimed that his first vision occurred at the age of 13 when one of his classmates died and then appeared to him in a bright cloud. The two boys had formed a pact that they would be bound together and whoever died first would appear to the other. Hume claimed that the second vision came four years later in which it was announced that his mother had died. That announcement came at the hour of her death.

Those visions were the beginning of his probing into the life beyond. In fact, one night, Hume heard loud blows, then a series of raps the next morning. His aunt was fearful of some rapping that had occurred two years earlier and believed that Hume was possessed by the devil. So she gathered up three ministers for an exorcism. When she learned that the exorcism was not successful, she threw Hume out of the house. Hume then attracted several friends and believers in his alleged powers, and apparently those friends supported Hume financially.

Hume was still in frail health, but his message began to spread throughout the community. Hume intended to study medicine, but he became ill, in part due to his excessive nervous energy and he was advised to go to Europe. It was there, in England, that the first levitation of Home was reported. There were also reports of music being heard with no musical instrument nearby.

Now in Europe, Hume was once again known as Home (pronounced Hoom). Home attracted much attention when in Britain. One of the first people to ask Home to attend a séance was Lord Brougham. He came to the séance with Sir David Brewster. Lord Brougham and Sir David Brewster were considered to be very distinguished men in Britain and Home was proud of the impression he had made upon them. In fact he conveyed that in a letter to a friend in America. The letter was then published in America and found its way to the press in London where it was disclosed. But Sir David Brewster, fearing public scorn, denied any belief in the supernatural and spiritualism and claimed the phenomena to be fraudulent. Lord Brougham remained silent on the subject. Although Lord Brougham and Sir David Brewster may have believed in the phenomena in private, they did not affirm it publicly. This situation certainly did much to discredit Home’s reputation as did a poem written by Robert Browning entitled “Mr. Sludge, the Medium.” Home was apparently the subject of Browning’s poem. Browning’s wife was a supporter of spiritualism and both she and Browning attended séances with Home, although Browning never publicly claimed to have caught Home at trickery.

There were other famous men of that time such as Lord Lytton and Thackeray, who had interest in spiritualism, but never spoke of their experiences publicly. Thackeray had met Home in America when he lectured there. He admitted to being interested in the subject of spiritualism and warmly sanctioned Robert Bell’s (anonymous) article entitled “Stranger than Fiction,” which he edited. The report of a séance Robert Bell attended with Home started with a quote that stated: “I have seen what I would not have believed in your testimony, and what I cannot, therefore, expect you to believe upon mine.” Attacks became prevalent on Thackeray for the publication of the article and the magazine that printed it significantly lost circulation as a result.

Home’s fame spread when he went to Florence in 1855 to visit Mr. and Mrs. Trollope. The peasants believed rumors that Home was a necromancer who could dispense the sacraments of the Church to toads in return for the raising of the dead by spells and incantations. While in Florence an attempt was made on Home’s life when a man struck him with a dagger one late night; Home narrowly escaped. Home was later warned by a minister that he had attained a sinister reputation among the people. At that time, Home believed that the spirits told him that his power would leave him for a year. It was during that time that Catholic ideas began to influence him. He later converted to Catholicism and entered a monastery. However, he soon weakened in his beliefs and left Italy for Paris where he claimed his powers returned.