HELEN DUNCAN

"Hellish Nell" (1897 - 1956)

There was a lot of Helen Duncan. Tipping the scales at over 22 stones, this Callendar born lass would have made an ideal Weight Watchers customer.

But it isn't for her weight that Hellish Nell will be remembered but as the last person to be tried under the 1735 Witchcraft Act.

Helen Duncan was a throwback to vaudeville. She was a "medium" who put on a great show at seances which were popular the length and breadth of Britain.

Usually, if they got on the wrong side of the law, folk like Helen were tried under fraud legislation. So, why was Hellish Nell so special ?

It's all down to World War Two and the misnomer that was the "Intelligence Service".

In December 1941 the British battleship HMS Barnham was sunk. This fact was kept secret until January 1942.

At a seance shortly after the sinking but before it was publicly announced, Hellish Nell materialised a vision of a drowned sailor, with the HMS Barnham ribbon on his hat.

The woman was obviously a danger to national security.

In 1944 in of the most sensational episodes in wartime Britain, Hellish Nell was tried and convicted at the Old Bailey for summoning spirits. She was sentenced to nine months imprisonment.

Why was there a three year gap between the offence and the trial ?

Enter the "Intelligence Services".

In 1944 preparations for D-Day were far advanced. Anything that compromised security and secrecy was dangerous. And so were charlatans like Helen Duncan. So, into chokey she went.

It was a notorious trial and caught the attention of Winston Churchill who thought it a bloody nonsense but was overruled by the Secret Service.

The harassment of Helen Duncan continued right up to her death in Nottingham in 1956. Something to do with the British spirit of fair play ?