a curated collection of the most famous, well known, scrutinized, controversial and occasionally notorious psychic mediums of the last 200 years. Want to add someone to the list? Email us! (suddenlypsychic@gmail.com) to make a suggestion
Numbered in NO particular order :)
USA Probably the single most rigorously tested medium in history. William James, Richard Hodgson, and the Society for Psychical Research subjected her to years of controlled investigation — including hiring private detectives to rule out ordinary information gathering. James ultimately called her his “white crow,” acknowledging she couldn’t be explained away. She remains the gold standard for serious mediumship research.
Ireland/USA Unusually credible in that she herself was skeptical of her own abilities and actively welcomed scientific testing. She cooperated with researchers at Duke University and elsewhere, and later founded the Parapsychology Foundation to fund rigorous inquiry. She was as honest about what she didn’t know as what she claimed to know — rare in this field.
Extensively studied by the Society for Psychical Research over many years. Unlike many mediums of her era, she consistently welcomed investigators and submitted to strict conditions. Researcher Oliver Lodge described some of her sittings as among the best evidence he’d encountered.
youtube.comFamous for the Houdini séance and studied by researchers including William Roll. (well known for his research into poltergeist activity, apparitions and paranormal experiences writ large) Arthur Ford is unquestionably one of the best known "celebrity" mediums of the last several hundred years, but that doesn't mean he didn't have his many detractors. His reputation is somewhat complicated by later controversies, but he remains one of the most investigated mediums of the 20th century and many investigators found aspects of his work genuinely puzzling.
The sheer volume and specificity of his documented readings, many made while in trance, are hard to dismiss. His medical diagnoses were reportedly accurate enough that physicians took note. He kept meticulous records of over 14,000 readings, making him unusually transparent and even 70 + years after his death, his readings are an open book, subject to inspection and interpretation. It's important to note that some of the "grander" predictions Edgar Cayce made have not come to pass, and some of his historical and archeological claims have come under serious scrutiny, with many being obviously erroneous - over the last few decades as well. That said, his body of work writ large, in particular his preternatural ability to seem to understand the human body, and the ailments of his thousands of visitors over decades of work, while in a clear trance, remain a genuine mystery to beginners, believers and the curious but not convinced.
Jeane Dixon (1904–1997) — USA An American astrologer and self-described psychic who became a household name in the United States, best known for claiming to have predicted the assassination of President Kennedy. She had a syndicated astrology column and wrote several bestselling books.
en.wikipedia.org"“I think I can safely say I am the most tested Medium this country has ever produced. I have been boxed up, tied up, sealed up, gagged, bound and held - and still the voices have come to speak their message of life eternal... I have a rare gift known as 'independent direct voice mediumship'. I do not speak in trance, I need no trumpets or other paraphernalia. The voices of the dead speak directly to their friends or relatives and are located in a space a little above my head and slightly to one side of me."
leslieflint.comGerard Croiset (1909–1980) — Netherlands A Dutch psychic famous for reportedly helping police solve missing persons cases. He attracted international attention and was studied extensively by parapsychologists, making him one of Europe's most celebrated psychics of the mid-20th century.
en.wikipedia.orgUK Stokes first came to public attention in 1978 during a visit to Australia, appearing on The Don Lane Show. She went on to play to three capacity audiences at the Sydney Opera House and became the first medium to appear at the London Palladium, with tickets selling out in two hours. She was arguably Britain's most famous medium of the 20th century.
bennionkearny.comyoutube.comDerek Acorah (1950–2020) — UK A Liverpool-born medium who became a household name in the UK through his long-running appearances on the paranormal TV show Most Haunted, becoming one of Britain's most recognized faces in mediumship. Note - Derek's website now features a text/call style network, which is generally not something we recommend, while his notoriety in life, especially in the UK, warrants his inclusion in a list of celebrity/significant spiritualists of the last 15 years.
derekacorah.comIngo Swann (1933–2013) — USA (remote viewer/psychic) Technically more of a remote viewer than a traditional medium, but he is one of the most rigorously tested individuals in the history of psychic research — as part of the U.S. government's classified psychic spying research programs, which produced statistically significant results according to academic reviewers. Medium Swann was a core subject in the SRI studies and his results were considered among the most anomalous ever documented in controlled conditions.
avam.orgyoutube.comingoswann.comEstelle Roberts was regarded by the British Spiritualist Movement as one of its finest exponents of mediumship in the 20th century. Born May 10, 1889, she claimed to have first seen a spirit at the age of ten, constantly hearing voices and seeing apparitions at school, though her parents scolded her for having a too-vivid imagination After working as a waitress to support her three children following her first husband’s death, a neighbor persuaded her to attend a Spiritualist service, where the clairvoyant told her she was a born medium with great work to do in the world. She became controlled by a spirit guide known as “Red Cloud,” a Native American figure whose teachings were widely published. Over more than fifty years, Roberts demonstrated clairvoyance, clairaudience, trance, materialization, psychic healing, psychometry, automatic writing, and the production of apports She gave a demonstration of mediumship in the British House of Commons and frequently appeared before sold-out crowds at the Royal Albert Hall In the 1950s she was instrumental in the legal recognition of Spiritualism by the British Government, working with Winston Churchill to remove the Witchcraft Act. Some controversies remain with respect to Estelle Robert’s reluctance to having her abilities tested under scientific settings, which was a bit more striking as many of her peers (including several featured here) we eager to have supportive scientific groups like the SPR validate their work. However, Roberts refused to have her mediumship tested or observed by any scientist or psychical researcher, and famously rejected an offer from the Society for Psychical Research to test her abilities. She wrote “Fifty Years a Medium” in 1959 and died in 1970.
Daniel Dunglas Home is a true one of one - in some circles, even close to 150 years after his death, remains —arguably the most puzzling figure in the entire history of physical mediumship. Daniel Dunglas Home (pronounced Hume) was born on March 20, 1833, and died June 21, 1886. He was a Scottish physical medium with the reported ability to levitate to a variety of heights, speak with the dead, and to produce rapping and knocks in houses at will He was born in Scotland in 1833, an illegitimate son (as the neighbors whispered) of some aristocrat. A pale, sickly child, coughing up blood from early childhood—tuberculosis would become his eternal companion and, ultimately, what took his life far too early. There are many extraordinary stories about Home's mediumship, and his extraordinary gifts, but the most famous of them is the Ashley House Levitation. A quick overview (that no doubt, will not make believers, nor skeptics happy) In 1868, Home was said to have levitated out of the third story window of one room, and back in through the window of the adjoining room in front of three witnesses (Adare, Captain Wynne, and Lord Lindsay). Lord Adare stated that Home "swung out and in" of a window in a horizontal position. Captain Wynne wrote: "The fact of Mr. Home having gone out of one window and in at another I can swear to. Anyone who knows me would not for a moment say I was a victim of a hallucination or any other humbug of the kind" There are many fascinating accounts of this incident, and of course, many others well. As they are simply so extraordinary, there are many who will attempt to debunk the entire history of his Home's many "feats" and as they are so head scratching and extraordinary, it's not hard to believe some sort of fraud must have been afoot. Home was never found to be doing anything fraudulent in any of his public "performances" although others argue, in private sessons that weren't well publicized, he was. Douglass Home remains one of the most extraordinary (and now, in 2026 little known) physical mediums of the last 200 + years, and even today, reading some of the things he purportedly was able to do, for me......is both puzzling, astonishing and i'm simply not sure what to believe is ultimately true.