Origins & Early Life

Daniel Dunglas Home (pronounced Hume; 20 March 1833 – 21 June 1886) 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. His biographer Peter Lamont opines that he was one of the most famous men of his era. Harry Houdini described him as "one of the most conspicuous and lauded of his type and generation" and "the forerunner of the mediums whose forte is fleecing by presuming on the credulity of the public." Home conducted hundreds of séances, which were attended by many eminent Victorians. There have been eyewitness accounts by séance sitters describing conjuring methods and fraud that Home may have employed.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Daniel Home's mother, Elizabeth ("Betsy") Home (née McNeill) was known as a seer in Scotland, as were many of her predecessors, like her great-uncle Colin Urquhart, and her uncle Mr. McKenzie. The gift of second sight was often seen as a curse, as it foretold instances of tragedy and death. Home's father, William Home, was the illegitimate son of Alexander, the 10th Earl of Home. Evidence supports the elder Home's illegitimacy, as various payments meant...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Adrien-Marie Legendre — Contemporary (Died in 1833) (1833): Pioneering French mathematician known for Legendre polynomials and least squares method.
• Alexander Borodin — Contemporary (Born in 1833) (1833): Russian Romantic composer, chemist, and physician known for 'Prince Igor' and symphonies.
• Alfred Nobel — Contemporary (Born in 1833) (1833): Pioneering chemist, inventor of dynamite, and founder of the Nobel Prizes.
• Alfonso XIII — Contemporary (Born in 1886) (1886): King of Spain (1886-1931), whose reign spanned constitutional crises and republican upheaval.
• Apsley Cherry-Garrard — Contemporary (Born in 1886) (1886): English polar explorer renowned for his Antarctic accounts and survival narratives.
• Béla Kun — Contemporary (Born in 1886) (1886): Hungarian communist revolutionary who governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919.
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• B. F. Skinner — Shared historical date (03-20 · Born) (1904): Pioneering behaviorist who developed operant conditioning and radical behaviorism.
• Aloysius Gonzaga — Shared historical date (06-21 · Died) (1591): Italian Jesuit seminarian and saint, known for his aristocratic background and early death.
• Anders Jonas Ångström — Shared historical date (06-21 · Died) (1874): Pioneering Swedish physicist, founder of spectroscopy and astrophysics.
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